UN Shipping Agency Approves Global Carbon Tax Despite US Walkout
Countries at the United Nations shipping agency have reached an agreement on a global fuel emissions standard for the maritime sector that will penalize ships exceeding emission limits while rewarding cleaner vessels. The agreement was achieved despite the United States withdrawing from the climate talks at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London, with the US urging other nations to follow suit and threatening "reciprocal measures" against any fees imposed on American ships. Other nations nonetheless approved the CO2-reduction measures to help meet the IMO's target of cutting net emissions from international shipping by 20 percent by 2030 and eliminating them entirely by 2050. On Friday, a majority of IMO member countries voted to implement a scheme that, starting in 2028, will charge ships $380 per metric tonne for every additional tonne of CO2-equivalent emitted above a fixed threshold, plus […]