USA Rejects "Global Carbon Tax" on Global Shipping - Small Pacific Islands are Hypocrites for their Role in ICJ Climate Advisory says Friends of Science Society

The US State Department issued a joint statement denouncing Net Zero policies for global marine shipping as a 'global carbon tax,' says Friends of Science Society. Small Pacific Islands requested an International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory statement on climate obligations claiming existential crisis; but many hypocritically provide marine registry services.

CALGARY, AB, Aug. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The US State Department issued a joint statement on August 12, 2025, vehemently rejecting attempts to force Net Zero targets on global shipping, calling it a "global carbon tax," says Friends of Science Society. The statement was sponsored by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. A global carbon tax by 2030 was the prediction of the World Economic Forum's infamous "You'll own nothing" video which also predicted that the US would no longer be a world superpower.

Friends of Science Society says it was hypocritical of the Small Pacific Island Nations to push for an advisory opinion on international climate obligations of countries, from the ICJ. The sponsoring nation, Vanuatu, operates a large marine registry service. After the Paris Agreement of 2015, Catherine McKenna, former Climate and Environment Minister of Canada claimed that reducing the global warming target to 1.5 °Celsius was necessary because the Marshall Islands "are sinking." A Friends of Science Society video produced at the time reveals that the Marshall Islands then hosted one of the largest marine registries in the world.

In a 2016 Friends of Science Society interview with Dr. John D. Harper, FGSA,FGAC, PGeol., and former director of the Geological Survey of Canada, he said these islands are experiencing shoreline erosion from the seas, which, to a resident, appears to be sea level rise, when it is not. 

Friends of Science Society has a library of climate studies that counter the 'sea level rise' catastrophe narrative. UN Sec. Gen. Antonio Guterres has been featured on the cover of TIME magazine in rising waters, claiming climate catastrophe while visiting small islands like Samoa and Tonga. In a detailed discussion of sea level rise by Friends of Science Society's president, he shows that Samoa's 'sea level rise' is due to a tectonic drop from a 2009 earthquake –not carbon dioxide (CO2) or sea level rise.

A main proponent of a global carbon tax law is Johan Rockstrom, climate scientist with The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and founding member of the Earth4All Initiative. Rockstrom has promoted the concept of a global carbon law for some years. Club of Rome (COR) also issued a Planetary Emergency Plan, that calls for a global floor price on carbon (dioxide).

In the spring of 2025, Canada Pension Plan Investments (CPPI) hosted a webinar with Johan Rockstrom to discuss climate risk assessment and investment. CPPI holds 47% of its investments in the United States, according to a June 19, 2025, CBC story. CPPI is a founding signatory of the UNPRI. 

The recently released US Department of Energy (DOE) Climate Science report demonstrates that there is no climate emergency. The prestigious AAAS Science journal labelled it "contrarian." Science historian, Naomi Oreskes, author of one of the most cited "consensus" surveys in the world is quoted as saying, "Climate denial is now the official policy of the U.S. government." 

Friends of Science Society states that "Science is about inquiry, not compliance." In a new video explainer, "Canada's EV Mandates – PRO vs NO" they expose the lack of scientific justification for EVs.

Pielke, Jr. is one of the most cited researchers in the new US DOE report. He revealed in a recent Substack, the climate questions he is being asked by two climate journalists from Associated Press (AP). For two of the ten questions Pielke, Jr. wrote: "These are absolutely ridiculous questions and suggest that your goal here is not journalism but team sport."

This supports a comment by Energy Secretary Chris Wright on X that the media don't want to address the findings of the US DOE report. This mirrors Friends of Science Society's experience in trying to share the "No Climate Emergency" message of CLINTEL in 2019, ignored by media and blocked by Facebook.

About
Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens that is celebrating its 23rd year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2).

SOURCE Friends of Science Society