Headline

UN Backs Global Carbon Pricing Scheme For Shipping Industry

Published

2 months ago

April 17, 2025

Editor

In a landmark move, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) has agreed on a global carbon pricing mechanism for the shipping industry, marking a significant step toward tackling emissions from one of the world’s most polluting sectors.

The policy, expected to be formally adopted in October 2025, is projected to generate between $30–40 billion in revenues by 2030—roughly $10 billion annually. These funds will be ringfenced exclusively for decarbonising maritime transport, rather than contributing to broader climate finance for developing nations.

While hailed as a major breakthrough, the agreement is expected to deliver only a 10% absolute emissions reduction in the shipping sector by 2030—well below the IMO’s own revised strategy from 2023, which calls for at least a 20% reduction by the same year, and a stretch goal of 30%.

From 2028, vessels will either have to adopt lower-carbon fuel mixes or pay for excess emissions. Ships continuing to use conventional fossil fuels will face a charge of $380 per tonne for the most carbon-intensive portion of their emissions, and $100 per tonne for the remainder above a set threshold.

The agreement, supported by 63 countries—including Brazil, China, the EU, South Africa, Kenya, Senegal, and Namibia—sets a global precedent. However, the policy faced strong opposition from oil-rich nations including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Russia, and Venezuela, who challenged both the substance and process of the deal. Despite the resistance, a compromise proposal championed by Norway, which chaired the negotiations, passed in the final vote.

Notably, the United States delegation was absent during the vote, having earlier circulated a proposal urging countries to withdraw from negotiations—a move that drew criticism from multiple quarters.

A bloc of over 60 nations, led by Pacific Island states, had advocated for the revenue to support broader climate resilience efforts in vulnerable nations. Speaking on behalf of the Pacific, Tuvalu expressed frustration at the lack of transparency and inclusion in the talks, warning that the new plan may fail to incentivise cleaner fuel adoption effectively.

While the agreement allows initial use of fossil-based liquefied natural gas (LNG), the pricing mechanism is designed to gradually penalise such fuels over time.

Minister Antony Derjacques of the Seychelles criticised the limited ambition of the deal.

He said, “The developing countries with the greatest need came here and offered a solution. How can the other major economies ask us to take a weak deal home to our people, who are suffering as a result of the climate crisis?”

Maria Ogbugo of the African Future Policies Hub viewed the outcome more positively.

She said, “The best possible outcome was achieved. African delegations, including Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, and South Africa, must be commended. The shipping industry has taken the lead in showing that climate action is possible—even for hard-to-abate sectors.”

The Executive Director at the same organisation, Faten Aggad added “Reaching consensus on decarbonisation measures was never going to be easy. Yet the result still puts a price on emissions, which is a crucial starting point—especially for vulnerable economies.”

The maritime advisor at the Micronesian Centre for Sustainable Transport, Eldine Glees, highlighted the link between climate levies and sustainable development.

The advisor said, “Several African delegations showed exemplary leadership by tying the levy to food security, resilience, and equitable revenue distribution. Maintaining unity will be vital as implementation begins.”

The CEO of the European Climate Foundation and a key architect of the Paris Agreement, Laurence Tubiana, said the agreement was a step forward but not enough.

The CEO said, “The lack of a broader shipping levy is a missed opportunity. The world needs more cooperation, and progressive partners can still push for breakthroughs in climate finance.”

Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister Ralph Regenvanu said, “Let us be clear about who has abandoned 1.5°C. Saudi Arabia, the US, and other fossil fuel allies blocked progress at every turn. This was a chance to fund climate-vulnerable nations. It was lost.”

Ambassador Albon Ishoda of the Marshall Islands concluded with a note of resilience.

Headline

Trouble Looms As Trump Gives Iran Two Weeks To Avoid US Airstrikes

Published

4 hours ago

June 21, 2025

Editor

President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran had a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible US air strikes, indicating he could make a decision before the fortnight deadline he set a day earlier.

Trump added that he was not inclined to stop Israel attacking Iran because it was “winning,” and was dismissive of European efforts to mediate an end to the conflict.

“I’m giving them a period of time, and I would say two weeks would be the maximum,” Trump told reporters when asked if he could decide to strike Iran before that.

He added that the aim was to “see whether or not people come to their senses.”

Trump had said in a statement on Thursday that he would “make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks” because there was a “substantial chance of negotiations” with Iran.

Those comments had been widely seen as opening a two-week window for negotiations to end the war between Israel and Iran, with the European powers rushing to talks with Tehran.

But his latest remarks indicated Trump could still make his decision before that if he feels that there has been no progress towards dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump meanwhile dismissed talks that European powers Britain, France, Germany and the EU had with Iran’s foreign minister in Geneva on Friday.

Europe ‘didn’t help’

“They didn’t help,” he said as he arrived in Morristown, New Jersey, ahead of a fundraising dinner at his nearby golf club.

“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said after the talks in Geneva that Tehran would not resume negotiations with the United States until Israel stopped its attacks.

But Trump was reluctant.

“It’s very hard to make that request right now,” Trump said.

“If somebody’s winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody’s losing, but we’re ready, willing and able, and we’ve been speaking to Iran, and we’ll see what happens.”

Trump meanwhile doubled down on his claims that Iran is weeks away from being able to produce a nuclear bomb, despite divisions in his own administration about the intelligence behind his assessment.

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, said in a report in March that Iran was not close to having enough enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.

“She’s wrong,” Trump said of Gabbard, a longtime opponent of US foreign intervention whom Trump tapped to coordinate the sprawling US spy community.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

AFP

Headline

Trump Orders Mass Layoffs At Voice Of America, Other US-funded Media

Published

4 hours ago

June 21, 2025

Editor

President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday ordered mass layoffs at Voice of America and other government-funded media, moving ahead with gutting the outlets despite legal disputes and criticism that US adversaries will benefit.

Kari Lake, a fervent Trump supporter named to a senior role at the US Agency for Global Media, said the notices were a “long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy.”

Lake said in a statement that she would work with the State Department and Congress to “make sure the telling of America’s story is modernized, effective and aligned with America’s foreign policy.”

Trump issued an order in March that froze Voice of America (VOA) for the first time since it was founded in 1942.

Termination notices were sent to 639 employees on Friday, after previous offers of voluntary departures and dismissals of contractors.

Some 1,400 positions have been eliminated, with only 250 remaining, Lake said.

Voice of America layoffs included journalists from its Persian service who had briefly been brought back to work after Israel attacked Iran a week ago.

Employees have filed a lawsuit challenging Lake’s actions, which come even though Congress had already appropriated funding.

The mass firing decision “spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds the US ideals of democracy and freedom around the world,” the three plaintiffs wrote in a statement.

“Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and extremist groups are flooding the information space with anti-American propaganda. Do not cede this ground by silencing America’s voice,” said the three complainants, Patsy Widakuswara, Jessica Jerreat and Kate Neeper.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the “decimation of US broadcasting leaves authoritarian propaganda unchecked by US backed independent media and is a perversion of the law and congressional intent.”

“It is a dark day for the truth,” she wrote on X.

Trump frequently attacks media outlets and has scoffed at the so-called editorial firewall at VOA which prevents the government from intervening in its coverage, something he at times has considered too critical of his administration.

One outlet preserved by the mass cuts has been Radio Marti, which broadcasts into Cuba and enjoys support from anti-communist Cuban-American Republican lawmakers.

Other outlets funded by the US government have included Radio Free Asia, which was set up to provide news to Asian countries without a free press and is now operating in a limited capacity.

Radio Free Europe, formed with a similar mission for Soviet bloc nations during the Cold War, has survived thanks to support from the Czech government.

AFP

Headline

Thousands Protest In Tehran Against Israel

Published

9 hours ago

June 20, 2025

Editor

Thousands of people joined a protest against Israel in the Iranian capital on Friday after weekly prayers, chanting slogans in support of their leaders, images on state television showed.

“This is the Friday of the Iranian nation’s solidarity and resistance across the country,” the news anchor said.

Footage showed protesters in Tehran holding up photographs of commanders killed since the start of the war with Israel, while others waved the flags of Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

“I will sacrifice my life for my leader,” read a protester’s banner, a reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to state television, protests took place in other cities around the country, including in Tabriz in northwestern Iran and Shiraz in the south.

AFP