A fleet of “dark vessels” linked to clandestine oil trading from Iran and Russia is producing a small country’s worth of previously uncounted carbon emissions, the Cop29 climate summit has heard.
Ships spotted in satellite images after failing to “ping” their location gave out 375 million tonnes of CO2 last year, according to new estimates. Vessels in the “shadow fleet” are believed to sail in poor condition and run the risk of oil spills by transferring fuel at sea.
Insurers say dark vessels have flourished since Russian oil sales were restricted over the war in Ukraine, and have also been used by Iran and Venezuela to circumvent sanctions. They operate outside international rules at a time when the maritime industry is under pressure to marshal global efforts to clean up.
Ships must be subject to “concrete, binding regulations” to achieve a goal of carbon-neutral shipping by 2050, Camille Bourgeon, a technical officer at the International Maritime Organisation, told delegates at the Cop29 talks on Wednesday. The emissions figures from Climate Trace, a tracker co-founded by Al Gore, are thought to be the first estimate of the dark fleet’s CO2 footprint.
“We are seeing a rise in ships that are deliberately turning off their safety equipment, called dark vessels, in order to avoid embargoes; or illegal fishers will often do this,” said Gavin McCormick, a fellow co-founder of Climate Trace. “About 7 per cent of shipping emissions, or something as large as the emissions of the nation of Ireland, are now from dark vessels.”
Cop29 summit – in pictures
Large cargo ships normally carry transponders that ping their location to base stations on the mainland, in what is known as an Automatic Identification System (AIS) that prevents them colliding at sea. Scientists can work out a vessel's CO2 footprint from the path it takes and the specifications of its engine, which show how much power it must have used.
Where no pings were received, analysts at Climate Trace and Global Fishing Watch drew on images from the European radar satellite Sentinel-1 to spot ocean-faring vessels, work out their length and how many did not match with AIS tracking, and use that data to estimate the carbon footprint of the missing "dark" ones. The spacecraft takes an image of Earth's entire surface every 12 days.
Hundreds of ships making up as many as one in five of the world’s oil tankers are part of the “dark fleet”, according to the insurer Allianz, which said in a May briefing that Russia's shadow tankers had emerged in response to Western sanctions over Ukraine. Data can sometimes be lacking because of a lack of AIS coverage rather than because of any clandestine activity, and turning off transponders can be a legitimate anti-piracy tactic when passing through dangerous waters.
However, the US Treasury Department wrote in a memo to fuel carriers in September that vessels carrying petroleum to Syria "have been known to intentionally manipulate their AIS transponders to mask their movement". Last month it ordered sanctions on six vessels believed to be part of a "shadow fleet" exporting oil despite international sanctions on Tehran.
The European Parliament last week accused Russia of trading oil on “unsafe and uninsured vessels” with “no regard for international safety or the potential for irreversible environmental damage” from an oil spill. It said the "scale and sophistication" of Russia's operations "set it apart" from similar tactics used by Iran, Venezuela and North Korea.
Countries exposed to environmental disasters, such as Fiji and Barbados, are using Cop29 to lobby for a CO2 levy on shipping to raise funds for the climate fight. “International shipping is committed to do more on climate action,” Arsenio Dominguez, secretary general of the International Maritime Organisation, told an event in Baku on Wednesday.
In the switch to clean fuel for ships “we need standards, we need them to be consistent across jurisdictions”, said Lais de Souza Garcia, the head of a renewable energy division in Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “If we have fragmented rules, it’s going to be impossible to tell a business they are going to be able to scale production.”
Maritime unions are meanwhile using Cop29 to lobby for proper training on green vessels. Singapore plans to train 10,000 personnel in the coming years in operating refitted ships. Concerns have been raised about a shortage of seafarers and the safety of handling alternative fuels such as methanol.
"There’s a huge trade coming in and out of South Africa, but there are very few jobs," said Zazi Nsibanyoni-Mugambi of the National Union of Metalworkers. "African workers in the shipping industry need to capture a meaningful stake in this transition."
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The specs
Engine: 5.0-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Power: 575bhp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: Dh554,000
On sale: now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
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THE BIO
Ms Al Ameri likes the variety of her job, and the daily environmental challenges she is presented with.
Regular contact with wildlife is the most appealing part of her role at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.
She loves to explore new destinations and lives by her motto of being a voice in the world, and not an echo.
She is the youngest of three children, and has a brother and sister.
Her favourite book, Moby Dick by Herman Melville helped inspire her towards a career exploring the natural world.
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Superliminal%20
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20Pillow%20Castle%20Games%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Pillow%20Castle%20Games%0D%3Cbr%3EConsole%3A%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20Xbox%20Series%20One%20%26amp%3B%20X%2FS%2C%20Nintendo%20Switch%2C%20PC%20and%20Mac%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
Andor
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The%20specs
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
If you go
The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road.
The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
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Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Price: from Dh498,542
On sale: now
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A general guide to how active you are:
Less than 5,000 steps - sedentary
5,000 - 9,999 steps - lightly active
10,000 - 12,500 steps - active
12,500 - highly active
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
THE SPECS
Touareg Highline
Engine: 3.0-litre, V6
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 340hp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh239,312
Origin
Dan Brown
Doubleday
