July 21, 2025
In early July, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Sheldon Whitehouse introduced legislation aimed at curbing air pollution from the global shipping industry.
The centerpiece of the legislative effort is the Clean Shipping Act of 2025, a proposal to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from ocean shipping companies that operate in the United States. The bill, first introduced in the House by Representative Robert Garcia, would set binding targets to reduce the carbon intensity of marine fuels and eliminate in-port ship emissions by 2035.
“California’s ports are the powerhouse of our country’s economy,” said Senator Padilla. “But neighboring communities have been forced to shoulder the brunt of global shipping pollution for too long. Our legislation would strengthen the sustainability of our shipping industry while protecting coastal communities.”
Clean Shipping Act
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, consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Specifically, the bill would direct the EPA to:
- Set carbon intensity standards for fuels used by ships. The bill sets progressively tighter carbon intensity standards for fuels used by ships consistent with a 1.5°C decarbonization pathway. These standards 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).
- 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.
Padilla also co-leads the International Maritime Pollution Accountability Act, led by Whitehouse in the Senate and Representatives Doris Matsui and Kevin Mullin in the House. The bill aims to reduce emissions by imposing a pollution fee on large marine vessels offloading cargo at U.S. ports to fund decarbonization efforts in the U.S. maritime economy.
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.
- 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.
- Provide critical funding to modernize the Jones Act fleet with low-carbon vessels, revitalizing and electrifying U.S. shipbuilding, and addressing and reducing pollutants in America’s port communities, along our coasts, and in our oceans.
