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Governments and shipping leaders have launched week-long deliberations on a proposed shipping carbon tax, but could be derailed by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the ensuing energy crisis.
The closure of the strait, which has led to soaring energy costs, has boosted opposition to the UN-led efforts to create a carbon tax for shipping.
A coalition of the world’s top three ship registries – Liberia, Panama and the Marshall Islands – plus oil export powerhouses such as Saudi Arabia’s Bahri, urged IMO members to consider alternatives to the original plan at the meeting this week. “Support for the framework in its current form has continued to erode” since the IMO meeting last year, they said in a statement.
EU countries agreed last week to keep pushing for a global price on shipping's CO2 emissions at the UN's International Maritime Organisation this week. But US opposition to the levy, compounded by the energy crisis, could lead to a clash. The plan was already postponed last year after strident opposition from the Trump administration.
The IMO's secretary general, Arsenio Dominguez, urged members to work towards a “shared understanding” following a fraught meeting last October which led to the vote on carbon tax being shelved.
“My request to you is that we engage in constructive and pragmatic exchanges. Listen to one another, there is no need to argue,” he said. “We are adult enough to agree to disagree. There is no reason to repeat what happened last October.”
He added that the carbon intensity of international shipping had reduced by 38 per cent since 2008. “This demonstrates that concrete action to reduce fuel consumption, save costs and improve efficiency is possible today,” he said.
US opposition has not stopped European countries from attempting to revive the plan, according to the EU's negotiating position for next week's IMO talks, seen by Reuters. EU countries “shall oppose any attempts” to stop the climate measures from being negotiated at the meeting, the document said, and will consider changes to the original carbon pricing plan if this helps gather support.
Three tankers were attacked by Iran last week as they attempted to cross the strait in the belief that a ceasefire was in place, prompting the IMO’s head to warn "there is no safe transit anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz".
At least 29 vessels have been attacked since the beginning of the crisis, the IMO said, resulting in the deaths of at least 10 seafarers and damage to vessels. Around 20,000 seafarers and around 1,600 vessels remain in the Gulf.
But some EU officials have also expressed doubts that the carbon levy could pass a vote this year. Norway's Environment Minister, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, said the IMO still had a chance to strike a historic deal, but had to look at “different approaches” to avoid a repeat of last year's failure.
“Also, whether we can do some things now and potentially postpone other parts of the regulation to a later stage, for example,” he added while speaking to journalists.
China and major shipping countries, including Liberia, were among the 57 countries that voted to delay the carbon levy last October, versus 49 that voted to pass a deal. Greece, Malta and Italy declined to endorse the new EU negotiating position, which was passed by a reinforced majority of EU countries, officials said.
