Countdown to MEPC 80: African nations endorse carbon pricing and GHG Fuel Standard

Mid-term measures like a Greenhouse gas Fuel Standard (GFS) and a universal levy will reduce conventional-alternative fuel price gaps and generate revenue to assist developing countries, several African nations have written in a joint proposal to the IMO.

PHOTO: The Port of Luanda in Angola. Getty Images

Angola, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, and Sierra Leone are now backing some of the same mid-term decarbonisation measures that the US and EU have also advocated individually.

A GFS was first suggested by the European Commission (EC) in its proposal to the IMO in March last year. According to EC, the GFS will require all vessels over a certain size - either 400 gross tonnage (GT) or 5,000 GT - to use fuels with a well-to-wake (WtW) greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity below a predetermined threshold.

A “universal” carbon pricing mechanism would generate significant revenue “as a by-product,” the African nations argue. The revenue could be spent on improving fuel production infrastructure and port infrastructure in developing nations, particularly small island nations and the world's least developed nations.

“Meeting the climate targets requires a basket of measures, which ensures meeting the targets and provides the right economic incentives for transition of the industry,” said the proposal.

“A GHG levy will provide the needed economic incentives for improving energy efficiency and for the transition by reducing the price gap between conventional and alternative fuels, and as a by-product raise a substantial revenue,” it concluded.

By Konica Bhatt

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