Essay by Eric Worrall
Apparently there will be another attempt to negotiate an agreement in November, but why bother?
Press Release
Global maritime decarbonisation stalls despite the accelerating impact of climate change
September 4, 2026
States again failed to agree on a deal following pressure from a small minority of fossil-fuel producing nations and division among progressive states.
Negotiations at the IMO have drawn a blank for the third meeting in a row, as US and Saudi-led efforts to scupper progress were successful. With delegates from vulnerable countries highlighting the tragic cost of this year’s climate disasters, action is far too slow, warns T&E.
While pragmatic negotiators, including the EU, signalled openness to compromise measures such as avoiding a centralised fund and weakening greenhouse gas targets, US and Saudi negotiators largely held their ground. T&E urged negotiators not to cave to the Trump administration’s crusade to sacrifice ambitious targets in favor of fossil gas and crop biofuels – a lose-lose deal for the climate and for future-proofing the industry.
The continued failure to find an ambitious common ground not only puts shipping off course to decarbonise, but locks fossil fuel importing states and the shipping industry into continued dependency. During the Hormuz crisis, dependence on oil cost the industry roughly €340 million a day, according to T&E estimates.
The next major IMO meeting takes place from November 30th to December 3rd. There, governments must adopt a global deal capable of decarbonising shipping by 2050, rather than giving up on the climate or delaying action again. T&E urged delegations to intensify diplomatic efforts to overcome the obstruction of the US and its allies.
At the same time, ambitious governments must not let the ongoing delays at the IMO put the brakes on shipping’s need to decarbonise. Taking action at regional and national level on international shipping is becoming increasingly urgent in light of the IMO’s failure to move forward.
Alex Springer, interim shipping director at T&E, said: “After a summer of heatwaves, droughts and record sea temperatures, the failure of states to get close to a credible deal is deeply disappointing. It leaves global shipping increasingly adrift of where it needs to be. Governments should push forward with ambitious regional measures and must not wait for a global agreement before taking action.”
Source: https://www.transportenvironment.org/articles/global-maritime-decarbonisation-stalls-despite-the-accelerating-impact-of-climate-change
WUWT first wrote about this attempt to impose a UN tax on global shipping last year;
At the time I pointed out how damaging such a tax could be :- With safe haven investments like gold spiking to an all time high, an Indian property and stock market bubble which is threatening to precipitate a Chinese style crisis, an economic crisis in France threatening to fracture the Euro zone, and China sitting on the mother of all banking crisis, and making all the wrong moves trying to fix the crisis, lets just say by this time next year I doubt a tax which would further damage the global economy will win widespread support.
While the crisis I’ve named haven’t yet torn down the global economy, if anything the global economic situation is even more precarious than when I discussed this absurd tax push last year. And yes, gold is still really expensive, which means a lot of people including some central banks are ditching income producing investments for safe haven investments.
Make no mistake, this International Maritime Organisation (IMO) negotiation is an attempt by the rest of the world to impose a tax on US prosperity. While China handles more maritime traffic than the USA, China had an escape plan, they wanted the UN to mandate use of synthetic Chinese fuel, allegedly produced using renewable energy, in place of the low cost diesel sludge which international cargo ships currently use for fuel.
But this nightmare scenario, everyone paying a tithe to China and the United Nations for every imported good which touches ocean water, for now at least belongs to an alternate reality in which President Trump did not win the election in 2024.
