At this week’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting held at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the world’s biggest emission control area (ECA) has been agreed upon. The new Northeast Atlantic ECA stretches along coastlines from Portugal to Greenland (see map below), joining existing nearby ECAs in the North Sea, Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. “Almost all European waters will be emission control areas soon. This harmonised regulation not only benefits people and nature but also facilitates a level playing field for the maritime industry in Europe,” said Sönke Diesener, a shipping expert at Naturschutzbund Deutschland, a German NGO. Attention now turns to what the final text coming out of MEPC this evening will be. This week’s MEPC is deciding on whether to implement a universal greenhouse gas (GHG) levy or contribution and/or a GHG fuel standard, both of which are aimed at meeting IMO’s green targets that push shipping to become a net-zero industry by 2050. The most eye-catching scene from the ongoing 83rd gathering of the IMO’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) are the three empty seats reserved for the US delegation, with the Trump administration not only avoiding the meeting, but, like its tariff tactics, letting it be known that it would look to add reciprocal charges if any US-flagged ships face higher fuel bills.