For the first time in history, the world’s shipping industry has a binding international framework to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions — and a carbon pricing mechanism to get it there. Member states of the International Maritime Organization reached the agreement on April 11, 2025 C.E., at the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting in London, marking one of the most significant climate breakthroughs in the transport sector in decades.
At a glance
- Shipping emissions target: The framework aims for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from the global shipping sector by 2050 C.E., applying to large ocean-going vessels over 5,000 gross tonnage — the ships responsible for 85 percent of maritime CO₂ emissions.
- Carbon pricing mechanism: Ships that exceed new emissions limits will be required to purchase remedial units to offset excess pollution, while vessels operating at near-zero emissions will receive financial rewards, creating market incentives for cleaner fuels.
- IMO Net-Zero Fund: Revenue collected through the pricing mechanism will flow into a dedicated fund supporting clean energy innovation, infrastructure development, and transition assistance for developing nations and small island states most vulnerable to climate impacts.
Why shipping emissions matter
International shipping carries roughly 90 percent of world trade, but it has long been one of the hardest sectors to decarbonize. The industry currently accounts for about three percent of global greenhouse gas emissions — comparable to the emissions of a major industrialized nation.
Unlike aviation or road transport, shipping has had no binding global carbon pricing framework until now. Ships burn heavy fuel oil across international waters, falling outside any single country’s regulatory reach. That jurisdictional complexity is precisely why a multilateral solution through the IMO was considered so difficult — and why this agreement carries such weight.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez called the outcome “another significant step in our collective efforts to combat climate change,” noting that the deal “demonstrates that IMO delivers on its commitments.”
How the new framework works
The agreement introduces two interconnected tools. The first is a global fuel standard that will progressively lower the greenhouse gas intensity of marine fuels over time, pushing the industry away from heavy oil and toward alternatives like green hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol. The second is the carbon pricing mechanism, which creates a financial consequence for ships that continue emitting above the allowed thresholds.
Together, these tools are designed to send a durable market signal: cleaner ships are the financially smarter long-term investment.
The draft regulations are set for formal adoption in October 2025 C.E. If ratified at that IMO session, as expected, they will enter into force in 2027 C.E. — giving the industry roughly two years to begin adapting operations, retooling fleets, and investing in alternative fuel infrastructure.
The regulations build on MARPOL Annex VI, the existing international framework addressing air pollution from ships, which already covers around 97 percent of the world’s merchant shipping fleet by tonnage across 108 member states.
A fund for the most vulnerable
One of the more consequential elements of the agreement is where the money goes. The IMO Net-Zero Fund will direct revenues from carbon pricing toward research, clean energy infrastructure, and transition support — with a specific focus on small island developing states and least developed countries.
This matters because these nations face a double burden: they are among the most exposed to the rising seas and intensifying storms that climate change is accelerating, and they depend heavily on shipping for imports of food, fuel, and goods. A framework that generates funds specifically to cushion that transition is a meaningful step toward climate equity.
Shipping routes and fuel costs also affect these nations disproportionately, and any rise in freight costs from carbon pricing could ripple through to consumer prices for essential goods. How the fund is governed — and how fairly those resources are distributed — will be one of the critical tests of this agreement’s real-world impact.
A hard-won vote
The deal did not come easily. Negotiations in London were described as particularly challenging, with around a dozen countries — including the United States — reportedly opposed to the framework. The proposal ultimately passed on a vote rather than by consensus, a relatively rare outcome at the IMO and a sign of the political divisions that remain.
That the agreement passed despite that opposition is itself significant. It reflects a broad international coalition — from European states to Pacific island nations — that was willing to push forward even without unanimity.
Still, the absence of U.S. support raises real questions about implementation, given that American ports handle enormous volumes of global trade. Whether the U.S. eventually joins the framework, and how enforcement plays out across non-signatory jurisdictions, will shape how effective these rules prove to be in practice.
The agreement reached in April 2025 C.E. is a framework, not a finished solution. Alternative fuels are still expensive, and the infrastructure to produce and distribute them at scale does not yet exist. But for an industry that has resisted binding climate rules for generations, reaching this agreement — with a price on carbon and a fund for the vulnerable built in — is a genuinely significant turning point.
For the environmental advocates and small island delegations who pushed hardest for this deal, the work now shifts to ensuring the October adoption holds, the fund is governed equitably, and the 2027 entry into force becomes a real accelerant toward cleaner seas.
Read more
For more on this story, see: UN Geneva — Countries reach historic deal to cut shipping emissions
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Alzheimer’s risk cut in half by drug in landmark prevention trial
- Ghana establishes marine protected area at Cape Three Points
- The Good News for Humankind archive on climate change
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