{"id":104591,"date":"2026-02-27T13:35:37","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/896173060"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:35:37","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T16:35:37","slug":"pacific-nations-want-higher-emissions-charges-if-shipping-talks-reopen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/27\/pacific-nations-want-higher-emissions-charges-if-shipping-talks-reopen\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific nations want higher emissions charges if shipping talks reopen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seven Pacific island nations say they will demand heftier levies on global shipping emissions if opponents of a green deal for the industry succeed in reopening negotiations on the <\/strong>stalled accord<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

The United States and Saudi Arabia persuaded countries not to grant final approval to the International Maritime Organization\u2019s Net-Zero Framework (NZF) in October and they are now leading a drive for changes to the deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a joint submission seen by Climate Home News, the seven climate-vulnerable Pacific countries said the framework was already a \u201cfragile compromise\u201d, <\/strong><\/em>and vowed to push for a universal levy on all ship emissions, as well as higher fees . The deal currently stipulates that fees will be charged when a vessel\u2019s emissions exceed a certain level.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor many countries, the NZF represents the absolute limit of what they can accept,\u201d said the unpublished submission by Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.<\/p>\n

The countries said a universal levy and higher charges on shipping would raise more funds to enable a \u201cjust and equitable transition leaving no country behind\u201d. They added, however, that \u201cdespite its many shortcomings\u201d, the framework should be adopted later this year.<\/p>\n

US allies want exemption for \u2018transition fuels\u2019<\/h2>\n

The previous attempt to adopt the framework failed<\/a> after governments narrowly voted to postpone it by a year. Ahead of the vote, the US threatened<\/a> governments and their officials with sanctions, tariffs and visa restrictions \u2013 and President Donald Trump called the framework a \u201cGreen New Scam Tax on Shipping\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Since then, Liberia \u2013 an African nation with a major low-tax shipping registry headquartered in the US state of Virginia \u2013 has proposed a new measure under which, rather than staying fixed under the NZF, ships\u2019 emissions intensity targets change depending on \u201cdemonstrated uptake\u201d of both \u201clow-carbon and zero-carbon fuels\u201d.<\/p>\n

The proposal places stringent conditions on what fuels are taken into consideration when setting these targets, stressing that the low- and zero-carbon fuels should be \u201cscalable\u201d, not cost more than 15% more than standard marine fuels and should be available at \u201csufficient ports worldwide\u201d.<\/p>\n

This proposal would not \u201cpenalise transitional fuels\u201d like natural gas and biofuels, they said. In the last decade, the US has built a host of large liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals, which the Trump administration is lobbying other countries to purchase from.<\/p>\n

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The draft motion, seen by Climate Home News, was co-sponsored by US ally Argentina and also by Panama, a shipping hub whose canal the US has threatened to annex. Both countries voted with the US to postpone the last vote on adopting the framework.<\/p>\n

The IMO\u2019s Panamanian head Arsenio Dominguez told reporters in January that changes to the framework were now possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear from what happened last year that we need to look into the concerns that have been expressed [and] \u2026 make sure that they are somehow addressed within the framework,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Patchwork of levies<\/h2>\n

While the European Union pushed firmly for the framework\u2019s adoption, two of its shipping-reliant member states \u2013 Greece and Cyprus \u2013 abstained in October\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

After a meeting between the Greek shipping minister and Saudi Arabia\u2019s energy minister in January, Greece said<\/a> a \u201ccommon position\u201d united Greece, Saudi Arabia and the US on the framework.<\/p>\n

If the NZF or a similar instrument is not adopted, the IMO has warned that there will be a patchwork of differing regional levies on pollution \u2013 like the EU\u2019s emissions trading system for ships visiting its ports \u2013 which will be complicated and expensive to comply with.<\/p>\n

This would mean that only countries with their own levies and with lots of ships visiting their ports would raise funds, making it harder for other nations to fund green investments in their ports, seafarers and shipping companies. In contrast, under the NZF, revenues would be disbursed by the IMO to all nations based on set criteria.<\/p>\n

Anais Rios, shipping policy officer from green campaign group Seas At Risk, told Climate Home News the proposal by the Pacific nations for a levy on all shipping emissions \u2013 not just those above a certain threshold \u2013 was \u201cthe most credible way to meet the IMO\u2019s climate goals\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith geopolitics reframing climate policy, asking the IMO to reopen the discussion on the universal levy is the only way to decarbonise shipping whilst bringing revenue to manage impacts fairly,\u201d Rios said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is [\u2026] far stronger than the Net-Zero Framework that is currently on offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… Arsenio Dominguez said the shipping<\/span> industry\u00e2\u0080\u0099s net zero emissions … in their ports, seafarers and shipping<\/span> companies. In contrast, under … set criteria. Anais Rios, shipping<\/span> policy officer from green … only way to decarbonise shipping<\/span> whilst bringing revenue to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104591\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}