by Martin Haffner Associate Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pacific islands fear the EU will stop fighting for a shipping emissions levy and accept a proposal which raises less money for climate finance
Tax on shipping emissions at risk despite growing support
Cimate-vulnerable island states say they are being trapped \u201cbetween a rock and a hard place\u201d by the European Union \u2013 led by the Netherlands and Denmark \u2013 after the bloc engaged in discussions on a proposal to clean up the global shipping industry that islands regard as ineffective and unjust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the sidelines of Singapore Maritime Week on Wednesday, representatives of the European Commission, Denmark and the Netherlands met with officials from China, Japan and Singapore. According to official notes from the meeting, seen by Climate Home, they talked about an emissions trading proposal known as \u201cJ9\u201d, which was put on the table by Singapore at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in February during negotiations on a new pioneering system to tax pollution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The J9 idea is an alternative to taxing all of a ship\u2019s emissions as favoured initially by small island states and now supported by shipping-reliant nations like Panama and Liberia as well as the UK, Nigeria, Kenya and others. Some big emerging economies like Brazil and China have opposed a full levy, as they fear it will drive up shipping costs and put them at a disadvantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Analysis by University College London says the J9 proposal will raise much less money for climate action and will promote short-term solutions like gas and biofuels, rather than zero-emission fuels based on green hydrogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Preparing to compromise
A full levy on a ship\u2019s emissions remains the European Union\u2019s preferred option \u2013 but IMO watchers say the bloc\u2019s willingness to discuss details of the alternative proposal suggests it is preparing to accept it at crunch talks taking place over the next two weeks in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Pacific negotiator familiar with the talks told Climate Home that the EU \u201chave signalled quite confidently that they will take a compromise that will cede grounds to a levy\u201d. \u201cOnce again, Europeans have locked the islands and many in the developing world between a rock and a hard place,\u201d they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a spokesperson for the Danish Maritime Authority said that Denmark and the EU still \u201cclearly prefer a global greenhouse gas levy as part of the regulation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The talks in Singapore \u201cwere part of an informal dialogue with all IMO member states, including Pacific Island countries\u201d, they noted, adding \u201cthe purpose was to explore the possibilities of reaching consensus at the IMO in case that neither the levy nor the Chinese-Brazilian proposed fuel standard would be acceptable in the final negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Pacific negotiator said the J9 proposal \u201cwill not deliver\u201d the emissions reductions governments agreed to aim for two years ago, including to reach net zero in the industry \u201cclose to 2050\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The J9 proposal will raise some money for climate action by allowing shipowners who pollute more than they should to make up for it by buying \u201cremedial units\u201d, paying into the IMO\u2019s net zero fund. But they will also be able to cancel out their excess emissions by buying credits from ships that have polluted below their limit \u2013 with the money going to the shipowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not enough money raised
UCL researchers predict this system would raise just 5-25% of even a weak version of the carbon levy system the Pacific islands and others want. A full levy could raise tens of billions of dollars a year to invest in climate action and address the negative impacts of the green fuel measures on less-developed economies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The head of an African environmental think-tank, who wanted to remain anonymous, told Climate Home that the J9 proposal \u201cis not a desirable alternative for developing countries in Africa and would not provide the needed answer to raise climate finance\u201d. Kenya\u2019s climate envoy Ali Mohamed wrote in a recent article that the levy proposal would channel \u201cvital funds\u201d and be a \u201ca precedent-setting move\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UCL analysis found that J9 would encourage investment in biofuels and fossil gas to power ships, leaving \u201cno to little resources\u201d to reward early adopters of zero-emission fuels based on green hydrogen like methanol and ammonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The authors say this is because the J9 proposal would not provide certainty and clarity on the competitiveness of different clean fuel options, creating an incentive for shipowners to pursue short-term lower-emitting solutions rather than long-term fixes like zero emission fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week\u2019s talks at Singapore Maritime Week were informal. Official talks will begin at the IMO\u2019s London headquarters on Monday. After a week behind closed doors, discussions will be opened up to the media for a week on April 7. By the end of that week, negotiators hope to have reached agreement on green measures that can be signed off at the IMO\u2019s next environmental meeting in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pacific negotiator said small island nations are appealing for EU member states that are \u201cfar more progressive\u201d than the Netherlands and Denmark to intervene. The Dutch ministry of infrastructure and water did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Martin Haffner Associate Editor Pacific islands fear the EU will stop fighting for a shipping emissions levy and accept a proposal which raises less money for climate financeTax on shipping emissions at risk despite growing support Cimate-vulnerable island states say they are being trapped \u201cbetween a rock and a hard place\u201d by the European…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pacific-islands-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1630"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1634,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1630\/revisions\/1634"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pacificislands.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}