The long-awaited International Maritime Organization (IMO) negotiations in London fell apart on Friday. In a controversial last-minute turn, Saudi Arabia made the unexpected decision to call for discussions to be adjourned for a year. This last-minute switcheroo has raised alarms about the future of a landmark deal. That pact, reached in April after 10 years of talks, was intended to cut the shipping industry’s greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050.
Members such as the United Kingdom and a number of European Union countries represented voted to maintain the discussions. They raised why it is urgent to act on climate change. Greece diverged from its EU counterparts by choosing to abstain from the vote, showcasing the growing divisions within the bloc. It was remarkable that representatives from Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United States all supported a motion to adjourn negotiations. This decision angered many who believed that immediate action was needed.
The IMO agreement was meant to ensure that shipping would be the first industry in the world with legally binding targets for reducing emissions. It mandated that starting in 2028, ship operators would need to use increasingly cleaner fuel or pay a fine. This measure is another important step in the progress against climate change. Beyond that, it champions eco-friendly practices among the maritime community.
President Trump himself attacked the IMO plan as a “green scam”. He warned that it would have the unintended consequence of raising consumer prices within the United States. His administration has a history of issuing tariff threats to intimidate countries. That made the debate acute with a new, sharp, geopolitical edge.
China, which had initially supported the IMO deal in April, opted to delay proceedings during this latest round of talks, further complicating consensus among key stakeholders.
The UNITED STATES RESERVE APPROVAL of this Global Green New Scam Tax on Shipping WILL NOT BE STANDED FOR. We’re not going to stand idly by while you stick it to American Consumers with the higher prices. – President Trump
The meeting concluded without consensus. Consequently, we are facing now a minimum of 1-year delay in the new regulations going into effect. Yet the plan to roll out the IMO regulations by 2028 appeared carefully calibrated. Now, it seems like a colossal pipe dream.
The environmental and shipping communities have united to raise alarm at the apparent collapse of talks. Hon. Ralph Regenvanu, Minister for Climate Change for the Republic of Vanuatu, called the decision “unacceptable given the urgency we face in light of accelerating climate change.”
Regenvanu appreciated that the framework lacked real ambition to address climate change seriously. He added it was still an important step forward.
We arrived in London as hesitant cheerleaders for the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework. Though it is short on the ambition that climate science requires, it is nonetheless a notable step, he stated.
Industry representatives have similarly called for regulatory certainty in order to make the long-term capital investments needed to transition to cleaner technologies. Thomas Kazakos emphasized this need, arguing that without clear guidelines from global governing bodies, the maritime sector will struggle to adapt effectively.
“Industry needs clarity to be able to make the investments,” Kazakos noted.
The negotiations were supposed to be aimed at finalizing important details and steps towards putting the agreement into action and locking in member countries’ commitments. Instead, they concluded with a lack of consensus and extended deliberations till next April of next year.
As Faig Abbasov, an energy researcher with the nonprofit Transportation for America, told me, today, diesel is still the cheapest fuel out there for ships. He emphasized the economic disincentives for ship owners to migrate to cleaner alternatives, explaining that when you extract crude oil, you eliminate all of its valuable aspects.
Climate change is an immediate and serious threat to our national security. Today, stakeholders are faced with a painfully stalled process that threatens the progress we’ve made in the past 10 years.