External politics rather than any failure of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) led to the delay in adopting a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions pricing mechanism for global shipping, proposal supporters said on Monday.
IMO members last month voted to delay the adoption of the Net-Zero Framework (NZF) by a year, despite some of those backing the delay previously supporting the carbon pricing system.
The October gathering was "not a typical IMO" meeting, IMO secretary general Arsenio Dominguez said during a side event at the UN Cop 30 climate talks in Belem, Brazil.
"We were affected by the global geopolitics that we all face right now. We're not immune to it," he said.
Dominguez also sought to assure critics of the vote that the IMO is not backing down from the proposal, citing ongoing work to address some questions that member states raised during last month's meeting.
"My message to you is very clear, don't judge IMO for what happened last October. Don't think that IMO stops there because we don't," he said.
Dutch climate envoy Jaime de Bourbon Parme struck a similar tone, telling the audience that while the delay may give supporters a "sense of failure" very few countries last month argued the NZF should not be adopted.
"I know the Netherlands and many other countries were ready to sign, however, the meeting went a very different direction," he said.
While Dominguez and the Dutch prince did not single out any country for causing the delay, many NZF supporters have put the blame on the US. In the days leading up to the vote, the administration of US president Donald Trump threatened to retaliate against countries that back the proposal with measures such as visa restrictions, new port fees or sanctions on officials that sponsor "activist-driven" climate policies.
The Trump administration "went outside the rules of engagement," said Andrew Forrest, non-executive chairman of Australian mining company Fortescue, calling US actions before the vote a form of "thuggery."
