The head of the United Nations body governing the global shipping industry has said that greenhouse gases from the global shipping industry will fall, whether or not the sector’s “Net Zero Framework” to cut emissions is adopted in October.
Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organization, told a new year’s press conference in London on Friday that, even if governments don’t sign up to the framework later this year as planned, the clean-up of the industry responsible for 3% of global emissions will continue.
“I reiterate my call to industry that the decarbonisation has started. There’s lots of research and development that is ongoing. There’s new plans on alternative fuels like methanol and ammonia that continue to evolve,” he told journalists.
He said he has not heard any government dispute a set of decarbonisation goals agreed in 2023. These include targets to reduce emissions 20-30% on 2008 levels by 2030 and then to reach net zero emissions “by or around, i.e. close to 2050”.
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Dominguez said the 2030 emissions reduction target could be reached, although a goal for shipping to use at least 5% clean fuels by 2030 would be difficult to meet because their cost will remain high until at least the 2030s. The goals agreed in 2023 also included cutting emissions by 70-80% by 2040.
In October 2025, a decision on a proposed framework of practical measures to achieve the goals, which aims to incentivise shipowners to go green by taxing polluting ships and subsidising cleaner ones, was postponed by a year after a narrow vote by governments.
Ahead of that vote, the US threatened governments and their officials with sanctions, tariffs and visa restrictions – and President Donald Trump called the framework a “Green New Scam Tax on Shipping”.
Dominguez said at Friday’s press conference that he had not received any official complaints about the US’s behaviour at last October’s meeting but – without naming names – he called on nations to be “more respectful” at the IMO. He added that he did not think the US would leave the IMO, saying Washington had engaged constructively on the organisation’s budget and plans.
EU urged to clarify ETS position
The European Union – along with Brazil and Pacific island nations – pushed hard for the framework to be adopted in October. Some developing countries were concerned that the EU would retain its charges for polluting ships under its emissions trading scheme (ETS), even if the Net Zero Framework was passed, leading to ships travelling to and from the EU being charged twice.
This was an uncertainty that the US and Saudi Arabia exploited at the meeting to try and win over wavering developing countries. Most African, Asian and Caribbean nations voted for a delay.
On Friday, Dominguez called on the EU “to clarify their position on the review of the ETS, in order that as we move forward, we actually don’t have two systems that are going to be basically looking for the same the same goal, the same objective.”
He said he would continue to speak to EU member states, “to maintain the conversations in here, rather than move forward into fragmentation, because that will have a very detrimental effect in shipping”. “That would really create difficulties for operators, that would increase the cost, and everybody’s going to suffer from it,” he added.
The IMO’s marine environment protection committee, in which governments discuss climate strategy, will meet in April although the Net Zero Framework is not scheduled to be officially discussed until October.
The post IMO head: Shipping decarbonisation “has started” despite green deal delay appeared first on Climate Home News.
IMO head: Shipping decarbonisation “has started” despite green deal delay
Climate Change
Alabama Poised to Drastically Overhaul Utility Regulation. Will It Lower Electric Bills?
The Alabama Senate unanimously voted to expand the public service commission, and create a Secretary of Energy to address rising electricity prices. A bill in the House would go even further, requiring rate case hearings and limiting utility profits.
MONTGOMERY, Ala.—High electricity costs have been the talk of the session in the Alabama Legislature, and the state seems poised to totally revamp its utility regulatory process.
Alabama Poised to Drastically Overhaul Utility Regulation. Will It Lower Electric Bills?
China, Brazil, Italy and Belgium have joined a pledge, launched at COP28 two years ago, to triple global nuclear energy capacity between 2020 and 2050.
Ministers from these four countries announced their support at this week’s Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris, increasing the total number of backers to 38.
At the summit, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing said China endorsed the pledge to help tackle climate change and strengthen energy security. “To deliver such ambitious goals we should uphold multilateralism, strengthen solidarity and cooperation and resist unilateralism and protectionism,” he said.
In the last 15 years, China has added more nuclear energy capacity than the rest of the world combined, mainly through large conventional reactors. The country is also planning to become a nuclear exporter, constructing its Hualong One reactor in Pakistan and Argentina.
Sama Bilbao y León, head of World Nuclear Association (WNA), said the new endorsements add “tremendous momentum” to the initiative.
Victor Ibarra, head of the nuclear energy programme at the climate think tank Clean Air Task Force (CATF), said that these endorsements reflect growing recognition for nuclear as a “reliable source of clean, firm power”.
He added that “geopolitical tensions and instability in oil and gas markets” highlight the risks of relying on “volatile fuel supplies”, motivating countries to seek a “more flexible, innovation-driven approach to the energy transition”.
In a report from last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) heralded a “new era of growth” for nuclear power, as demand for clean electricity rises to power electric vehicles, data centres and artificial intelligence.
A 2026 WNA report projects the tripling goal is achievable if current planning targets hold. On the other hand, Jacopo Buongiorno, nuclear science and engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) told Climate Home News last August that meeting the target would need a supply chain scale-up of “epic” proportions.
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As the construction of new reactors has stagnated in the US and Europe over the last decade, large emerging economies like China, India, the UAE and South Korea have taken the lead. Now, Brazil is also voicing support.
Brazil’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the country would develop nuclear power responsibly and with “elevated standards for safety, protection and non-proliferation”.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle last week, Brazil’s energy minister Alexandre Silveira said that Brazil’s “future is nuclear”. Silveira has proposed replacing fossil fuel power plants in the Amazon with small modular reactors (SMR), of which only two exist in the world: one in China and one in Russia.
Brazil’s foreign ministry said the country’s large uranium reserves offer it energy security. Uranium is the main fuel used in nuclear reactors, but it requires a refining process known as “enrichment” before it can be used to produce power.
Caio Victor Vieira from the Brazilian climate think tank Talanoa Institute, said nuclear expansion offers only “limited” economic benefit for Brazil, given that the country already sources almost 90% of its electricity from clean sources – mostly hydropower.
He said Brazil’s signing of the pledge “is better understood as a diplomatic and strategic move” to support nuclear globally. “If Brazil were to pursue additional nuclear capacity in the future, it would require a broader domestic policy debate,” he added.
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Europeans divided on nuclear
About half of the pledge’s signatories are European but the continent has long been divided on the issue of nuclear power. France – which derives two-thirds of its power supply from nuclear – has championed this technology, with Germany pulling in the opposite direction.
At the summit on Tuesday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen weighed into this debate, calling Europe’s move away from “reliable, affordable” nuclear in the last 30 years a “strategic mistake” that “should change”.
She added that the oil and gas crisis in the Middle East – which has raised the cost of electricity in gas-reliant countries – “gives a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities” that come from phasing out nuclear capacity.
“Europe has been a pioneer in nuclear technology and could once again lead the world in it. Next-generation nuclear reactors could become a European high-tech high-value export”, she said.
She argued that nuclear and renewables should be used in combination, as renewable energy is cheap but intermittent and often best produced far from where it is needed so nuclear energy, storage and improved grids are needed for a reliable energy system.
Europe’s move away from nuclear was led by its biggest economy Germany. Following Von der Leyen’s comments, German environment minister Carsten Schneider said that subsidising new reactors would require “very large amounts of money that would then not be available elsewhere”.
“Clean, safe electricity from wind and solar energy is affordable, has long been a driver of the energy transition and does not produce radioactive waste,” Schneider said.
However, German chancellor Friedrich Merz has indicated he would not oppose classifying nuclear as a clean energy source. His centre-right party governs in coalition with Schneider’s centre-left party
Japan’s anti-nuclear stance has also softened. The country shut down all reactors after the 2011 Fukushima disaster but is now restarting some, though it faces resistance over waste storage.
In the United States, the Trump administration has continued Biden-era support for nuclear energy—pushing new SMRs while weakening safety oversight and exempting reactors from some environmental reviews.
The post China and Brazil join pledge to triple global nuclear energy capacity appeared first on Climate Home News.
China and Brazil join pledge to triple global nuclear energy capacity
Climate Change
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