Shipping companies support a first-ever global fee on greenhouse gases,
opposed by Trump officials
[September 16, 2025] By
JENNIFER McDERMOTT
Nearly 200 shipping companies said Monday they want the world’s largest
maritime nations to adopt regulations that include the first-ever global
fee on greenhouse gases to reduce their sector’s emissions.
The Getting to Zero Coalition, an alliance of companies, governments and
intergovernmental organizations, is asking member states of the
International Maritime Organization to support adopting regulations to
transition to green shipping, including the fee, when they meet in
London next month. The statement was shared exclusively with The
Associated Press in advance.
“Given the significance of the political decision being made, we think
it is important that industry voices in favor of this adoption be
heard,” Jesse Fahnestock, who leads decarbonization work at the Global
Maritime Forum, said Monday. The forum manages the Getting to Zero
Coalition.
The Trump administration unequivocally rejects the proposal before the
IMO and has threatened to retaliate if nations support it, setting the
stage for a fight over the major climate deal. The State Department said
Monday the United States is “actively engaging with countries on the
extremely flawed proposal," as well as exploring and preparing to act on
remedies should it be adopted. Those could include tariffs, visa
restrictions and port levies. The department said it will propose that
allies take similar steps.
The U.S. considers the proposed regulatory framework “effectively a
global carbon tax on Americans levied by an unaccountable U.N.
organization,” the U.S. Secretaries of State, Commerce, Energy and
Transportation said in a joint statement last month.
U.S.-based shipping companies, however, have endorsed it. The Chamber of
Shipping of America wants one global system, not multiple regional
systems that could double charge vessels for their emissions depending
on the route, said Kathy Metcalf, the chamber's president emeritus.
Shipping emissions have grown over the last decade to about 3% of the
global total as vessels have gotten bigger, delivering more cargo per
trip and using immense amounts of fossil fuels. The IMO, which regulates
international shipping, set a target for the sector to reach net-zero
greenhouse gas emissions by about 2050, and has committed to ensuring
that fuels with zero or near-zero emissions are used more widely.
In April, IMO member states agreed on the contents of a regulatory
framework to impose a minimum fee for every ton of greenhouse gases
emitted by ships above certain thresholds and set a marine fuel standard
to phase in cleaner fuels. The IMO aims for consensus in decision-making
but, in this case, had to vote. The United States was notably absent. It
will send a delegation to London next month, the State Department said.
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A container ship departs from the port of Santos in Brazil, April 1,
2025. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
 Now nations have to decide if the
regulations will enter into force in 2027. If agreed upon, the
regulations will become mandatory for large oceangoing ships over
5,000 gross tonnage, which emit 85% of the total carbon emissions
from international shipping, according to the IMO.
If nations don't agree, shipping’s decarbonization will be further
delayed and “the chance of the sector playing a proper and fair part
in the fight to keep global heating below dangerous levels will
almost certainly be lost,” said Delaine McCullough, president of the
Clean Shipping Coalition and Ocean Conservancy shipping program
director.
The U.S. secretaries said in their statement that ships will have to
pay fees for failing to meet “unattainable fuel standards and
emissions targets,” driving up costs, and the fuel standards would
“conveniently benefit China.” China is a leader in developing and
producing cleaner fuels for shipping.
While U.S. opposition and pressure cannot be taken for granted, it
still appears as though a majority of countries currently support
the regulations, said Faig Abbasov from Transport and Environment, a
Brussels-based environmental nongovernmental organization. Abbasov
said the deal reached in April was not ambitious enough, but this is
an opportunity to launch the sector’s decarbonization and it can be
strengthened.
Shipping companies want the regulations because it gives them the
certainty needed to confidently make investments in cleaner
technologies, such as fuels that are alternatives to fossil fuels
and the ships that run on them. In addition to the Getting to Zero
Coalition, the International Chamber of Shipping, which represents
over 80% of the world’s merchant fleet, is advocating for adoption
when nations meet at IMO Headquarters in London from Oct. 14 to 17.
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Associated Press writer Sibi Arasu contributed to this report.
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