This is Part 1 in a short series on efforts to decarbonize the global shipping industry. Since the Paris climate agreement was signed in 2015, no industry has been governed by a global treaty that sets enforceable decarbonization standards. That could change in October, when more than 100 nations will gather at a meeting of […]
  • Shipping could become the first industry governed by a global treaty that sets enforceable decarbonization standards.
  • In October, more than 100 nations will gather at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London to potentially adopt a “net-zero framework” for the industry.
  • In 2023, the IMO, a United Nations body that regulates shipping, developed a nonbinding strategy to decarbonize “by or around” 2050; the new framework would make that vision concrete and binding. Critics from small island developing states and environmental groups say the framework falls short of fulfilling the original vision.
  • Some oil-exporting countries opposed the deal, arguing that alternative fuels are costly and unproven.