The International Maritime Organization (IMO) meets in the coming days to make a decision
It is not the first time that an attempt has been made to tax maritime transport, but this time there are more countries that support it
Increases the expectation of tax the Marine transporta measure with which it is expected to pay the “climate bill & rdquor; and that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) will address at a meeting at the beginning of this month of July, where countries will also be able to set objectives to decarbonise this industry, responsible for 2.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The idea of imposing a tax on international shipping is not new., but rather that it has been debated in the international community for years without hardly reaching a consensus because, as stressed by the person in charge of climate change at Ecologistas en Acción, Javier Andaluz, “there is a lot of reluctance in the sector & rdquor; and “it will not be easy & rdquor ;.
However, experts see how the proposal that calls for a tax that start at $100 a ton of C02has garnered much more political attention following the suggestion, at the initiative of small island states, that the measure serve to finance the loss and damage fund that the countries agreed to create at the UN climate summit in Sharm el Sheikh. (COP27), last December.
The World Bank estimates that a carbon tax on shipping could raise between 50,000 and 60,000 million dollars a yearan amount that would serve to alleviate the impact of the climate crisis in the most vulnerable countries, to whom the rich states – those most responsible for warming – have promised to help and are looking for new ways to raise financing.
More and more supports
So, the measure gains more and more support: at the summit hosted in Paris this month, promoted by French President Emmanuel Macron and Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, to agree on a new global financial pact, more than 20 countries were in favor of the maritime transport tax, as reported by the presidency.
The presidency cited Denmark, Norway, Cyprus, Spain, Slovenia, Monaco, Georgia, Vanuatu, South Korea, Greece, Vietnam, Lithuania, Barbados, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Ireland, Mauritius, Kenya, the Netherlands, Portugal, New Zealand and the European Commission.
The maritime transport sector, despite its responsibility in the climate crisis (its emissions even exceed those of international aviation), it has traditionally been exempted from paying to pollute in frameworks such as the European emissions market, until the recent reform of this regime, included in the ‘Fit for 55’ climate package, decided compel ships to acquire these permits.
Thus, starting next year, ships traveling between European ports They will have to pay for all the CO2 they emit. and those who do it between ports of the EU and those of other countries must assume the cost of the CO2 emitted in the middle of the journey.
With this precedent, there are specialists who hope that, in the meeting that between July 3 and 7 will bring together in London IMO members, states to agree on a global carbon tax on ships, as well as to increase their emissions reduction targets for 2050 and set one for 2030.
Currently, the IMO aspires to reduce GHG emissions from ships by 50% by mid-century, an objective “that is not consistent with the Paris Agreement, which calls for achieving climate neutrality in carbon as soon as possible & rdquor ;, They remember from the ocean-focused environmental NGO Ocean Care.
Ocean Care expert Carlos Bravo believes that this year can be decisive to advance in this direction, and argues that, in addition to the reform of the European market, the global agreement for biodiversity agreed last December at COP15 in Montreal, followed by the approval in March of the so-called High Seas Treaty, which has just been adopted the UN, will have a positive impact on the negotiations.
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