This week, the IMO member states are meeting for climate talks in London – but without America. The Trump administration has announced that it will not be attending the meeting.
The USA sent a clear rejection to the delegations. This is a major blow to the goal of achieving climate neutrality in international shipping by 2050.
The members of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) are meeting this week for the 83rd MEPC (Marine Environmental Protection Committee). Among other things, charges on CO2 emissions and the use of alternative fuels will be discussed. However, three of the seats reserved for delegates from the USA will remain empty.
USA rejects emissions fees
In a message from the White House, the Trump administration rejects all measures that would require US ships to pay fees based on CO2 emissions and fuels. It also threatened to consider countermeasures to offset such charges on American ships.
The IMO’s “net zero framework” provides for an amendment to MARPOL Annex VI: This is intended to introduce an international marine fuel standard and an emissions pricing system (as already exists in Europe with FuelEU ). The delegates at the MEPC meeting will finalize the draft legislative text this week.
The IMO’s climate strategy, adopted in 2023, aims to reduce emissions in international shipping to net zero by 2050. As an interim step, emissions are to be reduced by 40% by 2030 compared to 2008. By this time, 5-10% of the energy required in shipping should come from (almost) emission-free sources. National circumstances will be taken into account, as will the climate targets of the Paris Agreement – from which the USA also withdrew again when Trump took office.
Trump attacks the IMO’s climate targets
In its message, the Republican-led government discredited the IMO’s efforts as an “attempt to redistribute wealth under the guise of environmental protection”. The White House also rejects the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050. This would “nonsensically promote the use of hypothetical, expensive and untested fuels”, it says.
Following the unified vote and finalization of the bill at this week’s MEPC meeting, it is likely that it will be passed at an extraordinary session in October 2025. The adopted measures will then enter into force in 2027.
