Rescuing shipping's Net Zero Framework

In October 2025, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) failed to adopt the Net Zero Framework (NZF) measures agreed earlier that year, instead postponing the decision to April 2026 following pressure from the US and Saudi Arabia.

The NZF would have marked a major milestone in decarbonising international shipping, introducing a global fuel emissions standard alongside a market-based mechanism to reduce the sector’s emissions.

The Climate Action Tracker (CAT) finds that the IMO's adoption of the NZF could decide whether the shipping sector's emissions would be consistent with global temperature rise being held near 2°C by 2050—or allowed to drift toward 4°C under a business-as-usual trajectory. Ahead of MEPC 84 in April 2026, positions are divided, with submission of proposals from member states showing that many countries support adopting and, in some cases, strengthening the NZF, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Others seek to further weaken the NZF, which would derail the transition to zero emission fuels, while the US remains totally opposed to the framework.