UN Floats a Price on Pollution, Global Shipping Faces a New Carbon Tab
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is steering the world toward its first global carbon levy on ships, and the proposal has industry players checking their fuel gauges. A draft plan up for final sign-off this week would slap a fee of $100 or even $380 per metric ton of CO₂ emitted above set limits, a move The Wall Street Journal calls “the definition of taxation without representation.”
Under the plan, the levy could haul in $10-$12 billion every year, cash that supporters say will fund green technology for the 100,000-vessel merchant fleet. Critics counter that the surcharge will ricochet through supply chains, raising consumer prices while national governments cede tax authority to a UN body.
The reaction was swift: shippers warned of “double taxation” in jurisdictions that already price carbon, while climate advocates cheered a mechanism they claim is long overdue. Either way, the IMO’s net-zero framework has thrown a spotlight on international tax governance just as UN delegates debate a broader global tax treaty.
Around the Tax World
• West African Deep Dive: Finance ministers from 15 ECOWAS countries huddled with the World Bank in Dakar for a seminar on base-erosion and profit-shifting rules, part of a push to give tax collectors new muscle in the digital economy (APA News).
• Sri Lanka’s Tax Chasm: A 101-page Human Rights Watch report blames “ruinous” giveaways, think corporate holidays and VAT breaks, for starving schools of cash and fanning inequality.
• Big Four Blues: “The Big Four are struggling,” Ryan’s Asia-Pac president told International Tax Review after the U.S. advisory firm took a stake in India’s Dhruva Advisors, betting companies want fresh faces at the tax table.
• IMF Crystal Ball: The Fund will unveil its latest World Economic Outlook, Global Financial Stability Report, and Fiscal Monitor today in Washington, D.C., setting the tone for fiscal debates from Abuja to Auckland (BusinessDay Nigeria).
• UN Tax Committee Shake-Up: From wealth taxes to crypto rules, stakeholders flooded the UN with suggestions as it revamps its influential tax committee, Forbes reports.
By the Numbers, Prime Number
$380: the high-end price per metric ton of CO₂ that ships could pay under the IMO proposal, nearly four times the EU’s current carbon price.
Looking Ahead
All eyes are on the IMO’s London meeting this Friday. A green light there could see the carbon levy take effect as early as 2027, while ECOWAS ministers draft a joint communiqué on digital taxation before year-end.