By JENNIFER McDERMOTT and SIBI ARASU

The world’s largest maritime nations gathered in London on Tuesday to consider adopting regulations that would move the shipping industry away from fossil fuels to slash emissions.

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If the deal is adopted, this will be the first time a global fee is imposed on planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions. Most ships today run on heavy fuel oil that releases carbon dioxide and other pollutants as it’s burned.

Nations are meeting at the International Maritime Organization headquarters through Friday. The Trump administration unequivocally rejects the proposal and has threatened to retaliate if nations support it, setting the stage for a fight over the climate deal.

In April, IMO member states agreed on the contents of the regulatory framework. The aim is to adopt it at this meeting.

That would be a major win for the climate, public health, the ocean and marine life, said Delaine McCullough at the Ocean Conservancy. For too long, ships have run on crude, dirty oil, she said.

“This agreement provides a lesson for the world that legally-binding climate action is possible,” said McCullough, shipping program director for the nonprofit environmental advocacy group.

“The energy and digital transition of shipping have already started. However, the absence of global regulations will increase the costs of this transition in the long run,” said Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary-General of the IMO, during his opening remarks at the meeting.

Shipping emissions have grown over the past decade to about 3% of the global total as trade has grown and vessels use immense amounts of fossil fuels to transport cargo over long distances.

Here’s what to know:

The regulations would set a pricing system for gas emissions

The regulations, or “Net-zero Framework,” set a marine fuel standard that decreases, over time, the amount of greenhouse gas emissions allowed from using shipping fuels. The regulations also establish a pricing system that would impose fees for every ton of greenhouse gases emitted by ships above allowable limits, in what is effectively the first global tax on greenhouse gas emissions.

FILE – Tugboats assist a container ship as it prepares to dock at the Manila International Container Terminal at the Philippine capital April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

There’s a base level of compliance for the allowable greenhouse gas intensity of fuels. There’s a more stringent direct compliance target that requires further reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity.

If ships sail on fuels with lower emissions than what’s required under the direct compliance target, they earn “surplus units,” effectively credits.

Ships with the highest emissions would have to buy those credits from other ships under the pricing system, or from the IMO at $380 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent to reach the base level of compliance. In addition, there’s a penalty of $100 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent to reach direct compliance.

Ships that meet the base target but not the direct compliance one must pay the $100 per ton penalty too.

Ships whose greenhouse gas intensity is below a certain threshold will receive rewards for their performance.

The fees could generate $11 billion to $13 billion in revenue annually. That would go into an IMO fund to invest in fuels and technologies needed to transition to green shipping, reward low-emission ships and support developing countries so they aren’t left behind with dirty fuels and old ships.

Looking for alternative fuels

The IMO, which regulates international shipping, set a target for the sector to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by about 2050, and has committed to ensuring that fuels with zero or near-zero emissions are used more widely.

FILE – Cargo ships are anchored in the Sea of Marmara as they await to cross the Bosphorus, in Istanbul, Turkey, April 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

Ships could lower their emissions by using alternative fuels, running on electricity or using onboard carbon capture technologies. Wind propulsion and other energy efficiency advancements can also help reduce fuel consumption and emissions as part of an energy transition.

Large ships last about 25 years, so the industry would need to make changes and investments now to reach net-zero around 2050.

If adopted, the regulations will enter into force in 2027. Large oceangoing ships over 5,000 gross tonnage, which emit 85% of the total carbon emissions from international shipping, would have to pay penalties for their emissions starting in 2028, according to the IMO.

The International Chamber of Shipping, which represents over 80% of the world’s merchant fleet, is advocating for adoption.

Concerns over biofuels produced from food crops

Heavy fuel oil, liquefied natural gas and biodiesel will be dominant for most of the 2030s and 2040s, unless the IMO further incentivizes green alternatives, according to modeling from Transport and Environment, a Brussels-based environmental nongovernmental organization.

FILE – Shipping containers are stacked at Westport in Klang on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)

The way the rules are designed essentially makes biofuels the cheapest fuel to use to comply, but biofuels require huge amounts of crops, pushing out less profitable food production, often leading to additional land clearance and deforestation, said Faig Abbasov, shipping director at T&E.

They are urging the IMO to promote scalable green alternatives, not recklessly promote biofuels produced from food crops, Abbasov said. As it stands now, the deal before the IMO won’t deliver net-zero emissions by 2050, he added.

Green ammonia will get to a price that it’s appealing to ship owners in the late 2040s — quite late in the transition, according to the modeling. The NGO also sees green methanol playing an important role in the long-term transition.

The vote at the London meeting

The IMO aims for consensus in decision-making but it’s likely nations will vote on adopting the regulations.

At the April meeting, a vote was called to approve the contents of the regulations. The United States was notably absent in April, but plans to participate in this meeting.

FILE – Tokyo Tower is visible amid tall buildings as a container ship leaves a cargo terminal in Tokyo, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

During the opening session on Tuesday, Saudi Arabia, the U.S., Russia and a few other countries intervened to express their reservations about the meeting’s agenda, which strongly focuses on adopting the Net-zero Framework by the end of the week.

Teresa Bui at Pacific Environment said she is optimistic “global momentum is on our side” and a majority of countries will support adoption. Bui is senior climate campaign director for the environmental nonprofit, which has consultative, or non-voting, status at the IMO.

If it fails, shipping’s decarbonization will be further delayed.

“It’s difficult to know for sure what the precise consequences will be, but failure this week will certainly lead to delay, which means ships will emit more greenhouse gases than they would have done and for longer, continuing their outsized contribution to the climate crisis,” said John Maggs, of the Clean Shipping Coalition, who is at the London meeting.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — D’Angelo, the Grammy-winning R&B singer recognized by his raspy yet smooth voice and for garnering mainstream attention with the shirtless “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” music video, has died. He was 51.

The singer, whose real name was Michael Eugene Archer, died Tuesday, according to a statement from the family.

The singer’s family confirmed in a statement Tuesday that he died after battle with cancer. His family called him a “shining star of our family and has dimmed his light for us in this life.”

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By PATRICK WHITTLE and MICHAEL CASEY

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Leaf-peeping season has arrived in the Northeast and beyond, but weeks of drought have muted this year’s autumn colors, and sent leaves fluttering to the ground earlier than usual.

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Soaking in the fall foliage is an annual tradition in the New England states as well as areas such as the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina and Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As the days shorten and temperatures drop, chlorophyll in leaves breaks down, and they turn to the autumn tones of yellow, orange and red.

But dry weather in summer and fall can change all that because the lack of water causes leaves to brown and fall more quickly. And that’s happening this year, as more than 40% of the country was considered to be in a drought in early October, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

That’s more than twice the average, said Brad Rippey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist and an author of the drought monitor, which is a partnership between the federal government and University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Drought has hit the Northeast and western U.S. especially hard, he said.

Morning mist hovers over a field as leaves turn to fall foliage colors at sunrise along a country road, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Auburn, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

It all adds up to fewer leaves to peep.

“I think it might be a little bit of a short and less colorful season, for the most part,” Rippey said. “The color is just not going to be there this year for some hillsides.”

Fewer leaves, but many peepers

Despite the gloomy forecast, autumn enthusiasts said it’s still a great year to get out and enjoy nature’s fireworks display. There is still a lot of color in New England’s trees, said Andy Finton, senior conservation ecologist with The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts.

The view from Artists Bluff, a popular destination for fall foliage in Franconia Notch State Park in Franconia, N.H., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer)

Climate change is stressing forests with severe weather and heat waves, but autumn in New England remains a beautiful time of year to experience the wonderment of forest ecosystems firsthand, he said.

“Our trees and our forests have an inherent resilience,” Finton said. “They are still very resilient, and I am constantly surprised at how wonderful the fall season is despite these stresses.”

Watch an AP livestream of fall foliage around the Northeast on Tuesday.

The tourism business built around leaf peeping has also proven resilient. At the Mills Falls Resort Collection at the Lake in Meredith, New Hampshire, general manager Barbara Beckwith said business is good at the four inns that have 170 rooms. The number of Canadian tourists is down, Beckwith acknowledged, but she said that has been made up with domestic leaf peepers, mostly from New England.

Beckwith said her properties were booked solid on weekends through mid-October and had been for weeks.

“This year is actually going to be better than last year,” Beckwith said. “Last year was an election and that put a lot of trepidation in people. Now, they are traveling. The uncertainty of the election is over. We all know who’s president now and we are traveling.”

A couple, wearing protective high-visibility clothing due to hunting season, take a walk at dawn, as trees of in the distance turn to fall foliage colors, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Chester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Chris Proulx, executive director of the Mount Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the decline in Canadian tourists by as much as 80% seen this summer has continued into the fall. But the region is faring better, he said, thanks to an uptick in travelers from other countries and its reputation for having one of the country’s best leaf peeping seasons.

“This is the one season where people make plans in advance to come in addition to travelers from all of the country and all over the world,” Proulx said.

Muted show in the Rocky Mountains

Leaf peeping was so popular in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains this year that one town temporarily closed its highway offramp to alleviate gridlock. The area put on a display of yellow aspen trees dotting the mountains between evergreens, their delicate leaves vibrating in the wind.

But there were signs of a dry spring in the central part of the state, which was more severe the farther west you travel, said Colorado State Forest Service entomologist Dan West, who spends many fall days in a plane looking at how insect infestations are affecting tree health.

A motorcyclist rolls past trees with the changing colors of Autumn leaves, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in New London, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Crispy edges, muted colors, and dropping leaves before they can take on a red or purple hue are all signs of drought stress, West said.

“The tree is shutting down processes early and we basically just see this muted kind of a show for the fall,” he said.

In Denver, arborist Michael Sundberg also said he’s seeing less vibrant color than usual, and autumn feels like it arrived earlier than usual this year. It’s still a beautiful time of year, but there might be less of it to enjoy, he said.

“It’s weird to have color peaking this early in the mountains and then for Denver to be peaking at the same time,” he said. “Usually we’re later in October before we really go off.”

Casey reported from Boston. Associated Press journalist Brittany Peterson contributed reporting from Denver.

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Federal officials rejected a company’s bid to acquire 167 million tons of coal on public lands in Montana for less than a penny per ton, in what would have been the biggest U.S. government coal sale in more than a decade.

The failed sale underscores a continued low appetite for coal among utilities that are turning to cheaper natural gas and renewables such as wind and solar to generate electricity. Emissions from burning coal are a leading driver of climate change, which scientists say is raising sea levels and making weather more extreme.

President Donald Trump has made reviving the coal industry a centerpiece of his agenda to increase U.S. energy production. But economists say Trump’s attempts to boost coal are unlikely to reverse its yearslong decline.

(AP Graphic)

The Department of Interior said in a Tuesday statement that last week’s $186,000 bid from the Navajo Transitional Energy Co. (NTEC) did not meet the requirements of the Mineral Leasing Act.

Agency representatives did not provide further details, and it’s unclear if they will attempt to hold the sale again.

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The leasing act requires bids to be at or above fair market value. At the last successful government lease sale in the region, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy paid $793 million, or $1.10 per ton, for 721 million tons of coal in Wyoming.

President Joe Biden’s administration sought to end coal sales in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming, citing climate change.

A second proposed lease sale under Trump — 440 million tons of coal near an NTEC mine in central Wyoming — was postponed last week following the low bid received in the Montana sale. Interior Department officials have not said when the Wyoming sale will be rescheduled.

NTEC is owned by the Navajo Nation of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

In documents submitted in the run-up to the Montana sale, NTEC indicated the coal had little value because of declining demand for the fuel. The Associated Press emailed a company representative regarding the rejected bid.

Most power plants using fuel from NTEC’s Spring Creek mine in Montana and Antelope mine in Wyoming are scheduled to stop burning coal in the next decade, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

Spring Creek also ships coal overseas to customers in Asia. Increasing those shipments could help it offset lessening domestic demand, but a shortage of port capacity has hobbled prior industry aspirations to boost coal exports.