{"id":77031,"date":"2026-02-05T07:19:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shipping.einnews.com\/article\/889564181"},"modified":"2026-02-05T07:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T10:19:33","slug":"divided-eu-urged-to-sink-its-green-shipping-plan-amid-us-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/2026\/02\/05\/divided-eu-urged-to-sink-its-green-shipping-plan-amid-us-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Divided EU urged to sink its green shipping plan amid US pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has urged the European Commission to soften its stance over a global green shipping deal, arguing that a compromise acceptable to all sides \u2013 including US President Donald Trump \u2013 is needed to keep talks alive.<\/p>\n

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the London-based maritime regulator, visited the European Commission this week to press officials to reconsider<\/a> their position before negotiations resume in April. That means watering down the deal that was considered a global climate breakthrough, according to two officials briefed on private conversations.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last October, talks on a global agreement<\/a> to steer the shipping industry towards net-zero emissions, including penalties for the most polluting fuels, collapsed after Washington threatened<\/a> sanctions against countries backing the provisionally agreed stance.<\/span><\/p>\n

EU countries had initially supported a draft deal with relatively stringent environmental standards. But defections by Greece and Cyprus weakened the bloc\u2019s hand and contributed to the deal\u2019s failure, frustrating climate advocates and higher-ambition countries.<\/p>\n

Dominguez, a Panamanian official,<\/span> met MEPs from the European Parliament\u2019s transport and environment committees, as well as senior officials responsible for maritime and climate policy, including Magda Kopczy\u0144ska, director-general of DG MOVE, and Kurt Vandenberghe, head of DG CLIMA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese discussions included considering efforts to find consensus on the pathway to the decarbonisation of international shipping,\u201d an IMO spokesperson told Euractiv<\/em>.<\/p>\n

His visit comes as the EU remains split over how far to push. Greece \u2013 whose powerful shipping sector accounts for about 8% of GDP \u2013 wants negotiations reopened to give liquefied natural gas more favourable treatment, a stance shared by the US and other petrostates<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the other side, Denmark, home to shipping giant Maersk, is backing the existing deal negotiated at the height of the EU\u2019s Green Deal push, which favours biofuels over LNG. China is seen as tentatively supportive of that approach. France, once aligned with Denmark, is now reassessing its position.<\/span><\/p>\n

CLIMA vs MOVE<\/b><\/p>\n

EU climate officials \u2013 among the last defenders of the Green Deal-era approach amid industry pressure \u2013 oppose reopening the file, two officials familiar with the matter said. <\/span>Their reluctance stems from the fact that LNG is considered much dirtier than biofuels.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst-case scenario from a climate perspective would be a weak deal at the IMO, which would then be used in Brussels to oppose more robust existing rules,\u201d said Felix Klann of Transport & Environment, an advocacy group.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2024, the EU included maritime emissions in its landmark CO\u2082 <\/span>pricing scheme, despite strong opposition from the shipping sector. A softer global IMO deal could be used to justify adjustments to the EU\u2019s emissions trading system (ETS), mirroring similar efforts by the aviation industry<\/a> to avoid carbon pricing by pointing to existing global agreements at the International Civil Aviation Organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

Faced with the prospect of a watered-down deal at the IMO, climate officials may be tempted to stick to the EU\u2019s existing position at the IMO which would effectively keep the file frozen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The split has left Wopke Hoekstra<\/span><\/span>, the EU\u2019s Dutch climate commissioner, and Apostolos Tzitzikostas<\/span><\/span>, the Greek transport commissioner, at odds, prompting calls to escalate the issue to EU leaders.<\/p>\n

Notably, Dominguez only met with Anna Panagopoulou, Tzitzikostas\u2019 head of office, during his visit to Brussels.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not an issue to be resolved between two commissioners \u2013 it is a member state issue,\u201d a Commission official said, adding that the matter should be \u201craised at the level of EU heads of state.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEU leaders should mandate the Commission to come forward with a new proposal,\u201d the official added.<\/p>\n

(aw, jp)<\/p>\n

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

… agreement to steer the shipping<\/span> industry towards net-zero … the decarbonisation of international shipping<\/span>,\u00e2\u0080\u009d an IMO spokesperson told … Greece \u00e2\u0080\u0093 whose powerful shipping<\/span> sector accounts for about 8% … strong opposition from the shipping<\/span> sector. A softer global …<\/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-77031","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\/77031","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=77031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}