Crunch week for shipping’s decarbonisation strategy opens

As a special meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (IMO, MEPC/ES.2) opens tomorrow in London, environmental organisation the Clean Shipping Coalition is joining other shipping bodies in calling on IMO member states to adopt the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework (NZF) - set to be the first globally binding set of policies to reduce shipping’s climate pollution. 
 


It explains that the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework is aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships, in line with its GHG Strategy. The NZF includes a global fuel standard (GFS), requiring ships “to gradually reduce how polluting its ship fuel can be (i.e. how much greenhouse gas is emitted for each unit of energy used, across a fuel's life cycle)”.

It also includes a mechanism for setting prices on the GHG ships emit, to encourage the shipping industry to lower emissions as per the global fuel standard.



“The IMO’s Net-Zero Framework is far from perfect - lacking ambition, proper safeguards against the uptake on unsustainable fuels, and failing to provide the levels of guaranteed finance needed for a just and equitable shipping energy transition - but it is a vital step forward by the IMO”, said Delaine McCullough, President of the Clean Shipping Coalition (CSC). “It’s encouraging to see the shipping industry rally around a real, binding commitment to drastically reduce these dangerous emissions. What has been missing—until now—is a plan that countries could agree on. This agreement provides a lesson for the world that legally-binding climate action is possible—now.”
 


“During this meeting, IMO Member States must not only adopt the Net-Zero Framework but agree on a realistic and robust plan for fixing the framework’s failings and putting shipping on a truly sustainable path to zero-emission shipping”, continued McCullough. “The technology to make ships greener has long existed. This includes measures like reducing vessel speed, adding sails to harness wind power, powering ships through rechargeable batteries and fuel cells where possible, and deploying new zero-emission fuels that are safe for people and the ocean.”
 


“Pacific Island nations, along with Mexico, have made an important attempt to reframe the commitments in the NZF within a new submission (MEPC ES.2-2-13), which should be unanimously supported, especially because it brings the shipping sector back into alignment with a 1.5-degree pathway and the foundation of a just and equitable transition”, said Andrew Dumbrille, Co-Founder and Director of Equal Routes. “It also reminds IMO members of their commitments under international law and binding relevant treaties including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change.”
 


“During this week’s extraordinary MEPC session, IMO Member States face a clear choice”, said Dr Alison Shaw, IMO Manager at Transport & Environment. “A yes vote signals a commitment to implement the Net-Zero Framework, the IMO’s most comprehensive regulation to cut shipping’s greenhouse gas emissions to date. A no vote would cast the sector adrift, wasting years of negotiation and steering it into rougher and rising seas. Yet the framework isn’t perfect - it lacks clear signals to incentivise green e-fuels and wind-propulsion, both essential for meeting IMO climate goals, and safeguards to prevent first-generation biofuels driving deforestation. The IMO must use the implementation guidelines to back scalable, green e-fuels and technologies, not short-term paper fixes. Nevertheless, let’s not throw the baby out with the ballast water. It’s time to vote yes.”
 


“It's vital that the Net Zero Framework is adopted”, said Anaïs Rios, Senior Shipping Policy Officer, Seas At Risk. “Delaying it doesn't buy time, it kills investment certainty. Without clear rules, shipowners will lack the incentive to upgrade their fleet and fuel suppliers will stall on zero-emission fuel infrastructure. The entire transition will be slowed down and will keep the door open for transitional fuels to dominate well into the 2030s. It will also sideline proven solutions such as wind propulsion, which can cut fuel bills today while lowering emissions. This is why it is imperative the NZF is adopted and the guidelines reward clean technologies, such as wind propulsion, to give ships financial incentives to meet their decarbonisation targets.”
 


“The NZF is also only part of the shipping decarbonisation puzzle”, said John Maggs, the Clean Shipping Coalition’s Representative at the IMO. “Equally important, especially in the shorter-term, is the push to improve the energy efficiency of ships. Without a parallel improved IMO Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) driving a reduction in fuel burn the IMO and shipping will not be able to meet the 2030 and 2040 goals of the 2023 IMO GHG Strategy. The CII is also key to keeping the cost of shipping’s energy transition down and making sure that shipping’s demand for new fuels made with renewable electricity doesn’t adversely impact the decarbonisation of the wider economy.” The revision of the CII resumes at MEPC 84 in April 2026.
  


“While the NZF falls short of what is needed to tackle shipping emissions, it is essential that IMO member states now adopt the deal in October, work to strengthen it as soon as possible, and resist attempts to dilute its provisions further", said Jenny Helle, Expert on Decarbonisation of Aviation and Shipping at Carbon Market Watch. “IMO national delegations should, at the very least, significantly accelerate the reduction of GHG intensity emissions mandated by the Z factors by increasing the level of the latter to reach the IMO’s 2030 and 2040 targets. IMO national delegations must significantly speed up the increase in Z factors for Direct Compliance to widen the Tier 1 zone and broaden the share of priced emissions, indirectly raising the effective carbon price on ships.

"A just and equitable transition (JET) must be a key priority for where the revenue is earmarked, alongside scaling up zero or near-zero (ZNZ) fuels and technologies," Helle added. "This is especially important given that JET is central to the IMO’s 2023 GHG Strategy.”
 


During MEPC/ES.2, the IMO is set to formally adopt Emission Control Areas in the Northeast Atlantic, meaning that from 2027 ships have to switch to cleaner fuels and install exhaust aftertreatment. Both will reduce the air pollution burden for people and the environment considerably. The measure will also raise the costs to burn fossil fuels, thereby incentivising decarbonisation and efficiency measures, from wind propulsion to e-fuels.
 


“When adopted, the North Atlantic Emission Control Area will be the biggest of its kind", said Sönke Diesener, Shipping Expert at NABU. “Clean Shipping Coalition members have been instrumental in pushing this over the decision line in close cooperation with countries. Special thanks go to Portugal for leading the way.”