Top Shipping Nation Greece Shies Away From Maritime Carbon Tax

Greece, home to the world’s second-largest merchant fleet, is walking back from supporting a global maritime carbon tax that has drawn backlash from Washington. The nation currently plans to abstain from a final vote this week on an International Maritime Organization proposal to make the sector pay for its more than 1 billion tons of annual greenhouse emissions, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named discussing non-public information.

Athens had always been skeptical of the net zero framework and its impact on the shipping industry, the person said. In April, however, the country voted yes on a draft plan for the sweeping new rules.

A spokesperson for the Greek government declined to comment.

While the European Union is pushing its members to support the maritime levy, the US is strongly opposing it. After threatening to respond with measures such as port levies, visa restrictions and tariffs, Washington proposed introducing another step in adopting the charge, which would add a further hurdle for it to come into force.

Greece’s abstention would mark a departure of the southern European Union member state from the joint position of the bloc, which wants to lead the global fight against climate change.

The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, last week called for adoption of the IMO net zero framework, saying it was a “significant milestone” to decarbonize the shipping sector and ensure a level playing field.

Greek’s reservations regarding the levy have been submitted to the European authorities in writing well before the vote, the person familiar with the government’s stance added.

The net zero framework relies on fuels and technologies that aren’t available at scale, and introduces sharp penalties for not using them, the person said, adding this would inflate costs as companies chase limited supplies.

The final adoption of the new framework isn’t guaranteed due to Washington’s opposition. In April the draft plan for the new rules had gained wide support.

How Countries Voted in Spring

A repeat of April's result would see the Net-Zero Framework pass

Yes		No	Abstain	Absent*
Antigua And Barbuda	Lithuania	Iran (Islamic Republic Of)	Argentina	Albania
Bahamas.	Luxembourg	Iraq	Australia.	Benin
Barbados	Malta	Kuwait	Azerbaijan	Bulgaria
Belgium	Namibia	Malaysia	Bangladesh	Congo
Belize	Netherlands (Kingdom Of The)	Morocco	Ghana	Czechia
Brazil.	Norway	Russian Federation	Kiribati	Gabon
Canada	Panama	Saudi Arabia	Liberia	Guinea-Bissau
Chile	Peru	United Arab Emirates	Madagascar	Guyana
China	Philippines		Marshall Islands	Israel
Cook Islands	Poland		New Zealand	Jordan
Croatia	Portugal.		Palau	Mauritius
Cyprus	Republic Of Korea		Seychelles	Monaco
Denmark	Romania		Solomon Islands	Mongolia
Estonia	Saint Kitts And Nevis		Tuvalu	Montenegro
Finland	Saint Lucia		Vanuatu	Nigeria
France	Saint Vincent And The Grenadines		Vietnam	Niue
Germany	Samoa			Sao Tome & Principe
Greece	San Marino			Serbia
Guatemala	Singapore			Sierra Leone
Honduras	Slovenia			Slovakia
Iceland	South Africa			Syrian Arab Republic
India	Spain			Togo
Indonesia	Sweden			Tonga
Ireland	Switzerland			Trinidad and Tobago
Italy	Turkiye			Tunisia
Jamaica	Ukraine			Turkmenistan
Japan	United Kingdom Of Great Britain And Northern Ireland			United States
Kenya	Uruguay
Latvia
Total:	57	8	16	27

Source: IMO documents & BCG, compiled by Bloomberg News

Note: Above table removes nations that are not signatories to MARPOL Annex VI and are therefore unable to vote on adoption of the NZF *United States -- and some other countries -- are signatories, but were not listed in the April vote results. They have been added to the "Absent" column here.

Greece is the world’s second-largest ship-owning nation, trailing only China, according to data from Clarkson Research Services Ltd., a unit of the world’s largest ship broker.

(Bloomberg, October 16, 2025)