Those supporting the deal hope it will raise billions to help poor countries deal with climate breakdown. Brazil has asked the UN to throw out plans for a new levy on global shipping that would raise funds to fight the climate crisis, despite playing host to the next UN climate summit. The proposed levy on carbon dioxide emissions from shipping will be discussed at a crunch meeting of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) that begins on Monday. Those supporting the deal, including the UK, the EU and Japan, are hoping the levy will raise billions of dollars a year, which could be used to help poor countries cope with the effects of climate breakdown.
Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia and 12 other countries made a submission to the IMO on 31 January opposing the plans. They argued a levy could reduce exports from the developing world, raise food prices and increase inequalities. They wrote: “A levy would not deliver a just and equitable transition [to low-CO2 shipping] and its adoption may trigger negative, economy-wide impacts … a levy is a fundamentally divisive proposal.”.
The countries also claim a levy is not needed to meet the IMO’s greenhouse gas reduction targets. Experts said the levy could still pass despite this opposition, if the IMO took a firm stance. At least 46 countries, representing about two thirds of the global shipping fleet, are thought to favour a deal. Some countries may also be won round through concessions on how the levy could be used, and the level at which it is set.
The countries that are keenest on a levy are those most at risk from climate breakdown, many of them among the planet’s poorest. It will be hard for countries such as Brazil and China to present themselves as champions of the developing world if they are pitted against what the most vulnerable nations are calling for. The impact of the levy is likely to be small in overall terms, reducing GDP by between 0.03% and 0.07%, according to estimates quoted in the submission.
Brazil will host the Cop30 UN climate summit this November in Belém, at the mouth of the Amazon. The country has been engaged in intense diplomacy for the past year, and stepped up further last month with the appointment of the Cop president-designate, the veteran diplomat André Corrêa do Lago. Brazil has also called for a global wealth tax on billionaires to fund development aid and climate adaptation efforts in poor countries.
But maritime campaigners said Brazil’s stance on a shipping levy was the result of its highly export-dependent economy. John Maggs, shipping policy director at Seas At Risk, said: “Brazil is very sensitive, in thinking that because of its exports of large quantities of dry goods, the levy would have a greater impact.”. If there is little sign of agreement, the IMO could force discussions to a point. By longstanding tradition, the organisation tries to seek consensus, but some measures have been forced through in the past despite disagreement from some of the 176 member states.
Arsenio Dominguez, secretary general of the IMO, said he would “focus on identifying common ground and build consensus”, and pointed out that members had previously agreed to adopt some form of emissions pricing mechanism this year. He said: “The complexities cannot be underestimated. [But] I am positive that we can achieve the required progress to meet our timeline.”. A further complicating factor is Donald Trump’s presidency of the US. The IMO is not thought to be one of his priorities, and the US has not formally adopted a position on the levy in the past. Some think the US could “sit this one out”, in the words of one diplomat.
But even if the US does not obstruct a deal, Trump’s threats of sweeping tariffs are deeply unsettling for countries concerned about global trade. Delaine McCullough, a campaign manager at Ocean Conservancy, pointed out that Trump’s tariffs were far more disruptive than any likely impact from a shipping levy. “The cost of a levy would be dwarfed by the tariff levels [Trump is proposing],” she said.
Friederike Roder, director of the secretariat for the Global Solidarity Levies Task Force, which brings together countries calling for levies to fund climate action, said Trump’s actions on freezing USAid showed the need for stable, predictable means of financing development, of the kind that only levies and similar mechanisms can provide. Sign up to Down to Earth. The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential.
after newsletter promotion. “It shows how important aid is, and the real life impacts of not having enough finance,” she said. The taskforce, set up by Barbados, France and Kenya, and now with 17 members, is consulting on proposals for levies on airline tickets, financial transactions, cryptocurrency and taxes on fossil fuels, and will push for agreement on some of these at the Cop30 summit in Brazil.
