SAMUEL PETREQUIN and SYLVIE CORBET
Thu, June 22, 2023
PARIS (AP) — Participants at the Paris summit on finance and climate stopped short of a deal to create a tax on greenhouse gas emissions produced from international shipping.
The two-day gathering of world leaders and finance bosses, aimed at tackling climate change and poverty, ended without a major announcement Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the summit, said upcoming reforms of the international finance system would be assessed within the next two years.
The idea of a global tax on the greenhouse gas emissions produced from international shipping has been gaining traction and could potentially be adopted at a July meeting of the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations’ agency regulating shipping.
Some experts believe that a tax on shipping alone could raise $100 billion a year, and a strong endorsement of it in Paris would have provided Macron with a symbolic win.
“This is tax-free sector. And there’s no reason why it’s not taxed,” Macron said.
But the French president suggested that China and the U.S were not supporting the idea.
“If China and the U.S. and several key European countries are not on board, then you would put a tax in place that would not have any impact,” he added.
The money raised through taxation would be directed toward developing countries to help them deal with the challenges of climate change.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called the tax “a very constructive suggestion."
"I think I would agree with President Macron’s description of the logic of why it would be appropriate, and it’s something that the United States will look at,” she added.
It was unclear which countries attending the summit supported the proposal, which could be an important step toward getting a heavily-emitting industry to pitch in to the cost of fighting climate change.
Shipping accounts for almost 3% of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the International Maritime Organization. A European Parliament report has warned that share could increase dramatically by 2050.
The gathering wrapping up in Paris had no mandate to make formal decisions, but Macron had pledged to deliver a to-do list that would be accompanied by a progress-tracking tool. Such document has not been released yet.
Several activists and non-governmental organizations had urged the summit participants to ensure that rich countries commit to debt relief for poor nations, including the cancellation of loans. A debt suspension clause for countries hit by extreme climatic events was also discussed.
To bring in more money, activists are also pushing for a tax on the fossil fuel industry and another one on financial transactions — but those two proposals appear to have little support from wealthier nations.
In terms of concrete announcements in Paris, the International Monetary Fund has made $100 billion worth of assets — called Special Drawing Rights — available to certain vulnerable countries. The French presidency then said France would share 40% of its own assets from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The summit's first day included announcements of a pair of deals. French officials said debt-burdened Zambia reached a deal with several creditors including China to restructure $6.3 billion in loans. And Senegal reached a deal with the European Union and western allies to support its efforts to improve its access to energy and increase its share of renewable energy to 40% by 2030.
Many officials from poor and climate-vulnerable nations attended, with only two top leaders from the Group of Seven most developed countries — Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz — in the audience.
The U.S. was represented by Yellen and climate envoy John Kerry. Other attendees included China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, World Bank head Ajay Banga and IMF President Kristalina Georgieva.
Yellen said during Friday’s closing ceremony she was pleased that the U.S. and China were able to collaborate on the fight against climate change, with Qiang also attending.
“As the world’s two largest economies, we have a responsibility to work together on global issues," she said. "It’s something we can do and something the world expects of us.”
Her remarks came after U.S. President Joe Biden defended his harsh public remarks on China, in which he called President Xi Jinping a dictator. Biden said his words would have no negative impact on U.S.-China relations and that he still expects to meet with Xi sometime soon.
Climate activists gathered in central Paris on Friday to make polluters pay for climate damage.
“There will be no climate justice without making the polluters pay,” said Patience Nabukala, part of the Fridays for Futures Uganda activist group. “People from countries like mine, we cannot afford to lose more lives, we cannot afford to lose more properties.”
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Associated Press reporters Masha Macpherson and Catherine Gaschka in Paris and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed. ___ Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Shipping emissions tax still stuck in port
AFP
Fri, June 23, 2023
Macron said backing from China, the United States and other European nations was still needed (Lewis Joly)
Efforts by France to build a consensus for a global carbon tax on the shipping industry failed to produce significant results at a summit in Paris on Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron put the item on the agenda of the two-day Summit for a New Global Financing Pact which brought together around 40 heads of state and government.
The shipping industry transports around 90 percent of traded goods worldwide and accounts for around three percent of global carbon emissions.
The Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands have been pushing for a $100-per-tonne tax on emissions which would raise approximately $60-80 billion (55-73 billion euros) of tax receipts per year, according to the World Bank.
At a closing press conference, Macron said that backing from China, the United States and other European nations was still needed in order to bring the idea to fruition.
"We are in favour of taxing shipping, it's a sector that isn't taxed," he told reporters. "To make it work, you need a group of countries that follow us.
"If China, the United States and other key European countries which host major companies, if they don't follow then it won't have any effect."
He cited France's decision to put in place so-called "green taxes" on airline tickets and some financial transactions in the past, saying other countries had not followed suit, putting the country at a disadvantage.
"We can't continue to do harm to ourselves on our own," he said.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told the same press conference that "it's something that the US will look at".
"We are very focused on the need to raise substantial additional resources to address climate change, poverty reduction and other global challenges," she added.
A Treasury official had previously described the proposal as "in its very early days."
The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency, is set to host a summit in two weeks' time where the carbon tax is expected to be discussed.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also lent only lukewarm support to the idea, which has been pushed by two Pacific nations, the Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands, over the last decade.
"It's an interesting proposal but we need to work on it more," he told reporters. "There are some countries that are worried because they can only be reached by boat."
Even if a shipping tax is approved, there remain disagreements over how the money raised would be spent.
The industry would like it to be re-invested in technology to reduce shipping emissions, while the original backers of the idea want the funds used to finance climate change adaptation efforts in poor countries.
A total of 18 countries are currently in favour of the idea, according to a French diplomatic source.
Most Canadians on board with government cash for zero-emission shipping
Story by The Canadian Press • Yesterday
Canadians are generally pretty foggy about how much shipping emissions are fuelling the climate crisis.
But as soon as they learn that the sector produces a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide each year, the majority are on board with government investment in zero-emission ports, an Abacus Data poll indicates.
More than 80 per cent of Canadians surveyed believe it’s important for Canada to invest in zero-emission ports, vessels and shipping routes, the poll finds. Quebec is a hot spot of support, with 72 per cent saying such funding is extremely or very important.
It wasn’t a big surprise that shipping emissions are flying under the radar of most Canadians, said Brent Dancey, marine climate action director for Oceans North, which commissioned the poll.
“It’s a question of out of sight, out of mind,” Dancey said.
“There's increasing pressure to address shipping emissions, so we wanted to see what Canadians are thinking.”
Although 90 per cent of the volume of global trade is moved on boats, more than half of Canadians aren’t aware shipping creates three per cent of the globe’s fossil fuel emissions — roughly equivalent to countries like Japan or Germany and more than all the CO2 produced by the aviation industry.
The poll confirms more than three in four Canadians are concerned about climate change and are conscious of the carbon footprint of air travel. But there’s a blind spot when it comes to shipping, Dancey said.
“Canadians haven’t connected all the things we have in our houses to the emissions generated by getting those things to us across oceans,” he said.
“So, a poll like this is useful to start making that connection for folks.”
It appears there’s broad support for investing in the green future of shipping regardless of political affiliation, Dancey added.
“It’s interesting when we’re in an often polarized political environment,” he said.
“Investing in zero-emission ports and shipping isn’t a partisan issue”
There’s also a growing wave of pressure in the international arena to make urgent and effective changes to drive down the sector’s emissions, Dancey said.
The agency that sets standards for the marine sector, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), has a target of cutting emissions in half from 2008 levels by 2050.
But little progress has been achieved since the IMO set the target in 2018, Dancey said. The IMO’s latest estimates suggest shipping emissions are set to surge by 90 to 130 per cent by 2050.
The United Nations agency is meeting next week to update the global plan and agree on measures to cut shipping’s carbon footprint with new zero-carbon fuels, infrastructure and technology.
However, Canada doesn’t have to lag behind by tying the country’s pace of change to the IMO, he added.
“Most, 85 per cent, of the infrastructure needed to decarbonize shipping requires investment on land in terms of zero-emission fuel production and [port] infrastructure,” Dancey said.
The European Union, for example, is moving forward faster than the IMO, he said.
The EU has mandated a number of measures — like massive investments in zero-emission fuel production, rules to drive the use of cleaner fuels, carbon pricing on international vessels and limits on vessels’ use of shore power — that jibe with the global commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.
“There are many opportunities for countries to lead and be out in front of the IMO in terms of ambition by investing in zero-emissions infrastructure,” Dancey said, referring to a recent study by Oceans North on how Canada’s ports could spearhead a transition towards green shipping.
“Real solutions can happen at home, right now.”
Rochelle Baker / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer
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Rochelle Baker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer
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