巴西弃用碳税改推灵活合规，IMO脱碳投票定档12月4日

A vessel is refueled with ethanol at the Port of Santos; shipowners are already ordering dual-fuel vessels Divulgação/Copersucar The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has a better chance of approving regulations governing the shipping industry’s decarbonization rules at its next general meeting, scheduled for December, after Brazil revised parts of its proposal during a consultative meeting a few weeks ago. That is the assessment of Flavio Mathuyi, Brazil’s representative to the international body and coordinator of environmental issues at the Coordinating Commission for IMO Affairs (CCA-IMO). He spoke with Valor on the sidelines of an event organized by Novacana. Brazil’s ethanol industry is closely following the IMO discussions. Market estimates indicate that the maritime industry could require 24 billion liters of biofuel a year. At its meeting last November, the IMO postponed a vote on the decarbonization regulations after the United States and oil-producing countries opposed a proposal to create a “carbon tax” for shipowners that failed to reduce emissions. To overcome that resistance, Brazil invited IMO member countries to hold talks before the annual meeting and revised its proposal. Brazilian diplomats dropped the term “carbon taxation” and began advocating a “flexible compliance mechanism,” which would function as a form of financial compensation that shipowners would have to pay if they failed to meet their emissions targets, Mathuyi explained. Brazil also proposed that any rule creating an “economic component” for shipowners take effect only two years from now. In 2025, the proposal called for the rule to take effect immediately. According to Mathuyi, the idea is to “give the market time” to increase the supply of low-emission fuels and give shipowners more options for reducing emissions. Brazil also abandoned the idea of using the proceeds to create a fund. The current plan is to direct the money to countries using renewable fuels or to development banks in countries that need financing to build infrastructure to supply low-emission fuels. Mathuyi said Brazil’s proposal was well received by the U.S. delegation. However, Trump must still endorse it for the vote scheduled for December 4 to move forward. “The worst outcome would be no decision at all, leaving the maritime market uncertain about its future investments. We cannot forget that the ships operating in 2050 are being built today,” he said. Shipowners have already placed orders for 336 vessels capable of running on methanol or ethanol, representing demand of between 15 billion and 20 billion liters by 2030. “Maritime transportation is moving toward the energy transition. The speed at which that happens will depend on the measure expected to be approved in December [at the IMO],” he said. Translation: Todd Harkin