Bipartisan Legislation Aims to Reduce Harmful Pollution from Maritime Shipping Industry

Strategic Insights -

U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Alex Padilla, and Representatives Doris Matsui, and Kevin Mullin have reintroduced legislation to combat greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution from the global shipping industry. The legislation, known as the International Maritime Pollution Accountability Act, aims to decarbonize the maritime shipping industry, prevent the release of criteria air pollutants in port communities, and revitalize the U.S. shipping industry. The bill has been endorsed by several environmental groups, including EV Maritime, Friends of the Earth, and Sierra Club.

Key Takeaways:

  • The International Maritime Pollution Accountability Act would impose a pollution fee on the largest marine vessels offloading cargo at U.S. ports, driving industry-wide decarbonization efforts and incentivizing the use and development of cleaner maritime fuels.
  • The bill would levy a $150 per ton fee on the carbon emissions of fuel burned on an inbound trip, as well as fees for the nitrogen oxides ($6.30/lb.), sulfur dioxide ($18/lb.), and particle pollution (PM2.5) ($38.90/lb.) that ships emit.
  • The fees would apply only to those ships with 5,000 gross tonnage or more, excluding most of the domestic industry, and the fee on carbon emissions would sunset if the IMO implemented and enforced a fee on the greenhouse gas emissions of marine shipping that was equal to or greater than the $150 per ton fee levied in the bill.
  • The bill would provide critical funding for modernizing the Jones Act fleet with low-carbon vessels, revitalizing and electrifying U.S. shipbuilding, and addressing pollutants in America's port communities, along our coasts, and in our oceans.
  • The Clean Shipping Act of 2025 would set a path to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from all ocean shipping companies that do business with the United States. It would direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set progressively tighter carbon intensity standards for fuels used by ships in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
  • The bill would require lifecycle carbon dioxide-equivalent reductions of 30 percent from January 1, 2030; 58 percent from January 1, 2034; 83 percent from January 1, 2040; 92 percent from January 1, 2045; and 100 percent from January 1, 2050 (based on a 2027 baseline).
  • The Clean Shipping Act of 2025 would also set requirements to eliminate in-port ship emissions by 2035, by January 1, 2035, all ships at-berth or at-anchor in U.S. ports would emit zero GHG emissions and zero air pollutant emissions.

Statistics:

  • Maritime shipping is a major source of climate-warming pollution, including climate-warming GHG emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) and harmful air pollutant emissions (oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, and fine particulate matter).
  • The global shipping industry emits approximately one billion tons of GHG emissions per year, roughly three percent of total anthropogenic global-warming carbon-dioxide emissions.
  • Maritime shipping is the largest source of traded goods, both for the U.S. and globally. Unlike other modes of transportation (trucks, planes, etc.), marine shipping vessels rarely pay fuel taxes.
  • The U.S. trade deficit approached $1.2 trillion in 2024.
  • The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has projected that shipping's GHG emissions could more than double between 2018 and 2050 without action.
  • The number of Americans living within three miles of a port is approximately 150 million, or nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population.

Sources:

  • U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Minority)
  • International Maritime Organization (IMO)
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  • Friends of the Earth
  • Sierra Club
  • EV Maritime
  • GreenLatinos
  • Ocean Conservancy
  • Pacific Environment
  • San Pedro and Peninsula Homeowners Coalition