Business and workers stand ready for zero-emission shipping

In a few weeks, representatives from the 176 member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), are meeting in London to lay out the course for reducing shipping emissions. 

After years of planning, preparations, research and policy discussions, this group is convening at the IMO - the global regulator of shipping since 1948 - to agree on how to bring ships’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions down to zero by 2050. This moment is, in many ways, historic. 

For the first time, we will have global regulatory measures, including an economic element on GHG emissions, for an entire industry. All ships engaged in international trade would be required to abide by these measures, otherwise they lose their license to operate and trade, and they will be held back in ports. 

Shipping already has a long list of well-functioning rules, ensuring minimum wages, advancing seafarers’ skills, limiting pollution to sea and air, ensuring safety and efficiency, and so forth. And all of this makes sense for business - it creates a ‘level playing field’, transparency for investors and customers, and it ensures good jobs and reduces the risk of accidents. 

The next big step is the decarbonisation of shipping. 

In 2023, all the member states agreed on the main target: zero or near-zero emissions by 2050 while promoting a just and equitable transition. Now, the focus is on how to achieve it. 

Two key policy levers are being designed: a technical and a financial one. The technical mechanism will gradually impose stricter emission limits over the coming decades. To avoid failure, these regulations will need to catalyse the initial production of green fuels at scale. 

The financial mechanism is equally important. It will include a fee on every tonne of marine diesel bunkered, which again is spent on incentivising green fuels, infrastructure and green ship engines. The financial revenues will also be beneficial for countries needing support to develop their maritime industries and to cope with the impacts of climate change. 

Decarbonising shipping is truly a deep, global industrial turnaround, where investments in workforce training and reskilling, in infrastructure like ports, ships and new technologies, are all equally important as incentivising green fuels early on. A just transition depends on addressing all these factors.

To be clear, the seafarers and the industry are ready to do what it takes to decarbonise shipping in a safe and responsible manner. The transition we need is not one that only tackles climate change and pollution, but it must also be a transition welcomed by business and workers. It must present new opportunities for governments, companies and seafarers worldwide. New countries can then take part in green fuel production, in green transportation and in development of new technologies. The costs will be spread across the value chains of global trade and will have a negligible impact on consumer prices - far smaller than the daily fluctuations in current bunker costs.

Industry and unions have provided their views but now, the decision lies with our governments. The industry and its workers stand ready. History will judge whether governments seize this moment to enact the measures needed for the future we want and need. 

On behalf of the Maritime Just Transition Task Force, 
Stephen Cotton, Secretary General, International Transport Workers’ Federation,
Guy Platten, Secretary General, International Chamber of Shipping, 
Sturla Henriksen, Special Advisor Ocean, United Nations Global Compact