After mammoth negotiations, the world adopts a plan to cut shipping emissions
London: Global shipping is set to have an emissions levy imposed upon it after gruelling United Nations negotiations ended with an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a mechanism to drive the cuts.
The outcome is expected to drive up the cost of consumer goods around the world sometime after 2027, though it is unclear by how much. More than 80 per cent of the world’s traded goods are moved by sea and the industry creates about 3 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. That number is expected to spike in the coming years.
More than 80 per cent of the world’s traded goods are moved by sea.Credit: Getty
As the talks began, a group of Pacific Island nations – led by the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands – called for ambitious reduction targets of 37 per cent by 2030, 96 per cent by 2040 and 100 per cent by 2050.
Proponents say this is necessary to put the industry in line with the Paris Agreement goal of holding climate warming to 1.5 degrees.
To reach the targets, the group proposed to introduce a mandate to use cleaner fuel and introduce a levy on greenhouse gas emissions from ships starting at $100 per tonne.
The levy would generate an estimated $US60 billion to $US80 billion each year, which would be used to fund the deployment of clean shipping technology and help developing nations move away from carbon.
But both measures were opposed to varying extents by an array of countries. A group of South American nations opposed the levy, saying it was akin to a tax on distance and would reinforce the inequities of colonialism.
China also objected due to the potential impact on trade. Australia supported more ambitious targets.
But to the frustration of some in the Pacific Island delegation, while Australia backed exploring all five proposed economic measures designed to help meet reductions target, it did not support the levy specifically.
Solomon Islands negotiator Michael Prehn said that his nation had expected more support from a member of the so-called “Pacific family”.
“Did Australia get in the way? No. Did it help, well, yes-ish,” he said. “We had hoped for a bit more after the government changed.”
The special agony of global climate talks is that decisions can only be made by consensus, and by Thursday, many of the more ambitious nations had already conceded all they believed they could.
What had once been described as emissions reduction targets had evolved into “indicative checkpoints” and the numbers they cited had fallen so far that they were no longer in line with Paris targets.
In a final round of talks, the concept of the levy survived as one of five “economic measures” that might drive down emissions to be studied and considered in a “comprehensive impact assessment”, with one of them to be selected and introduced by 2028.
‘I’m proud of what the Pacific achieved. It is always those that have the most to lose who have to fight the hardest.’
Marshall Islands chief negotiator Albon Ishoda
In the final document, former targets remained relegated to checkpoints, but the numbers association with them had been revived. The global fleet would reduce emissions “at least” 20 per cent by 2030, while “striving” for 30 per cent. By 2040 the figures would be “at least 70 per cent, striving for 80 per cent”. Rather than committing to zero emissions by 2050, the goal became “net zero” to be achieved “by or around ... close to 2050.”
International Maritime Organisation secretary-general Kitack Lim described the final agreement as a momentous achievement in the history of the IMO and the negotiators who had achieved it as heroes and heroines.
Speaking with this masthead after the final hours of talks that resulted in a unified group of Pacific Nations extract greater ambitions from far more powerful nations, the Marshall Islands chief negotiator Albon Ishoda was more circumspect.
“I’m proud of what the Pacific achieved. It is always those that have the most to lose who have to fight the hardest,” he said.
He welcomed Australia’s support in negotiations over emissions targets and said the island countries would keep working to explain to Australia why they see the levy as crucial.
Vanuatu’s Climate Minister Ralph Regenvanu offered cautious support for the agreement. “This outcome is far from perfect, but countries across the world came together and got it done – and it gives us a shot at 1.5 degrees,” he said.
To many, the crucial test of whether the IMO had achieved anything this week is whether the agreement hammered out would be enough to convince the industry to start spending the billions of dollars needed to make cleaner ships and fuels.
Not everyone believed they would. One advocacy group, the Clean Shipping Coalition, said the IMO members had failed to keep their ambition in line with the Paris Agreement.
Lim said he believed some environmental groups did not understand how deep the cuts the industry needed to make to hit the commitments. To reduce the entire fleet’s emissions by 80 per cent by 2040, each existing ship must cut emissions by 90 per cent, he said.
One analyst with a major national delegation said he believed that even if the Pacific’s proposed levy was not eventually adopted, as a result of these talks some form of carbon tax on shipping would come into force in the coming years.
If it worked as intended carbon emissions would fall as a result and the cost of all the goods we trade by sea would rise.
Nick O’Malley’s travel was supported by the Global Strategic Communications Council, a non-government climate advocacy group.
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