🔥 BREAKING: IMO suspends global carbon tax on shipping 🥲

🤔 Remember back in April, when the world celebrated a first-of-a-kind maritime carbon tax to help it achieve maritime's 2050 net-zero target?

👎 Well, that has just been suspended for one year with a real risk of being axed for good.

🇺🇸 Why? Exorbitant U.S. pressure, particularly on smaller countries, in the lead-up to the meeting.

💚 Back in April, 63 countries had voted in favour and only 13 against, despite the U.S. walking out on the meeting and threatening retaliatory measures.

🔴 This time, the U.S. ramped up the pressure, particularly on developing countries, threatening tariffs and sanctions in what has been described as "unprecedented diplomatic bullying". The result: 57 countries in favour of delay, 49 against, and 21 abstentions.

🤬 This is very disappointing and shows the devastating effects the climate-change-denying current U.S. administration can have on climate multilateralism way beyond its borders.

📅 The carbon tax will no longer go into force in March and will be revisited at a later date.

🤷‍♂️ What a lost opportunity.

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