Calls to suspend NZF vote throw IMO into chaos
THE International Maritime Organization’s pivotal carbon price vote is on a knife edge, with countries split on whether to push through to the vote on adoption rules, or to kick the whole debate into the long grass.
Brazil has pushed for a vote on changing adoption rules. It and supporters of the Net-Zero Framework hope they can kill the plan, which the US and Saudi Arabia hatched earlier this week to hobble the framework even if it is adopted.
Singapore and Saudi Arabia have proposed the IMO vote to delay the NZF adoption vote, saying more time was needed to move toward consensus.
The USA suggested suspending the whole meeting for delegates to talk and ask their governments what to do.
Brazil hit back that “in practice a suspension is already happening”. A rush of points of order ensued, leaving many delegates unsure of what they were being asked to vote on.
Russia complained that the break in formal talks after lunch yesterday left delegates in the dark and unable to report back to their capitals.
“Yesterday there was basically chaos descending,” Russia said.
Delegates spoke of the need to ease tensions and repair “IMO spirit” to work toward consensus, after formal negotiations were overtaken yesterday by “corridor diplomacy” and veiled threats.
Brazil condemned what it called “methods that should not ever be used among sovereign nations”, adding: “We hope that this is not replacing negotiations as the normal way for us to make decisions.”
It said discussion on the NZF had been exhausted, and a vote would decide whether multilateralism had been too.
But Brazil, whose clout with both sides of the GHG debate gives it an important moderating role, said delegates could also “work to weave together our priorities” and do what they could to “send the planet a signal of hope”.
Maritime Environment Protection Committee chair Harry Conway, of Liberia, suggested the MEPC deal with other matters first, then broke for lunch.
He and the secretariat are short of time, since they have to decide to continue without translators if the meeting runs later than 1730 hrs.
That would probably lead some countries to protest that they are excluded if talks are held mostly in English, and open the IMO to allegations of an unfair outcome that would further muddy the waters.
If Conway goes forward with a vote on postponement, and it wins, the issue will effectively be frozen for six months until MEPC84.
If the NZF is adopted, delegates will switch gears to discussing how it will work. They would face a mountain of challenges, from how carbon tax revenue is spent to how certain fuels should be taxed or rewarded.
If the NZF is adopted, but with ‘explicit’ rather than ‘tacit’ acceptance, it could pass the vote but never enter into force, because the procedural bar is much harder. Tacit acceptance has been used since 1973, without question until this week.
Last night, US President Donald Trump said he was outraged that the IMO was voting to pass a global carbon tax.
“The United States will NOT stand for this Global Green New Scam Tax on Shipping, and will not adhere to it in any way, shape, or form,” he wrote on Truth Social, the social network he owns.
Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, a prominent advocate of tougher global rules to stop climate change, told delegates in a letter seen by Lloyd’s List: “I stand ready to support any country or individual being blackmailed or threatened.”
Forrest added: “You are not alone. I am committed to working with others to ensure that justice prevails and bullying tactics do not win out.”
The MEPC will resume at 1430 hrs UK time.
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