US Calls for Mandatory Phaseout of EU ETS in Formal IMO Submission
Douglas Grandt
(This is about decsrbonization policy, not IMO Sulfur Policy)
|
Committee (MEPC) ahead of its 84th session.
The document - MEPC 84/7/41, submitted by the United States — sets out a series of policy positions that
Washington says must underpin any alternative to the current IMO Net-Zero Framework (NZF) proposal, with the phaseout of regional carbon pricing schemes chief among them.
"Member States and regional organisations must commit to terminating their existing regional schemes to avoid a duplicative system of frameworks and agreements," the submission states, adding that proposals "should not impose additional layers of carbon trading or pricing in the existence of aggressive EU schemes."
The move formalises a position the US had already been circulating privately.
An aide-memoire seen by Ship & Bunker that was distributed by Washington laid out five conditions for any NZF alternative, with mandatory withdrawal of the EU ETS listed as condition four.
The five conditions have now been replicated as part of its formal submission.
Carbon Taxes
Beyond the EU ETS demand, the submission calls for any replacement framework to carry no economic element whatsoever — explicitly ruling out carbon taxes, financial penalties, levies, and IMO-administered funds.
It also demands that any regulation take a so-called "energy-all" approach, with no restrictions on conventional fuels, LNG, nuclear, or biomass-based alternatives.
The submission also calls for any future regulation to use the explicit acceptance procedure for entry into force - a mechanism that requires active approval from member states, rather than the tacit acceptance approach under which support is assumed unless a state objects.
The positions track closely with earlier public statements from senior US officials.
The submission comes as MEPC 84
prepares to meet in London from April 27
to May 1, with the future of international shipping emissions regulation its most consequential agenda item.
The NZF - approved in principle at MEPC
83 in April 2025 - collapsed at a subsequent extraordinary session
(MEPC/ES.2) in October 2025, after what the US described as "severe divergence among Member States."
That session was adjourned for one year, with MEPC/ES.2 currently scheduled to resume in November 2026.
The US is now pushing for that resumption not to happen, with the aide-memoire quoting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning that if the NZF "or a substantially similar measure were to be brought back up at the IMO, our coalition will be ready to oppose, and it will be larger."
Secretary of Energy Chris Wright was quoted in the same document as stating there is "zero chance that countries will reach net-zero by 2050."
Ship & Bunker News Team
To contact the editor responsible for this story email us at edi...@shipandbunker.com