IMO Talks Stay Divided on Shipping's Net-Zero Framework

Another Round, Little Resolution

The International Maritime Organization has wrapped up its latest Intersessional Working Group session on cutting greenhouse gas emissions from ships without settling the core disagreements that have dogged the Net Zero Framework (NZF) for months. According to a report by The Maritime Executive, nearly 1,200 participants registered for the session, and while observers noted a more constructive tone than in past rounds, the United States and several oil-producing nations continued to resist the framework outright, pushing several contentious items into further intersessional talks and a critical set of meetings scheduled for late November and early December 2026.

Where the Divisions Lie

The backdrop to the talks was stark: scientists continue to report worsening climate impacts, from a punishing heatwave summer across Europe to a catastrophic glacier collapse and flooding in Nepal, alongside UN findings that the world is now likely to blow past the 1.5°C warming target with harsher consequences to follow.

Against that backdrop, the negotiating positions remain far apart. The US, Saudi Arabia, and other oil-producing states are still pressing to gut major parts of the NZF or expand it with additional fuel pathways. The proposed fund tied to the framework — recently renamed and revised — still draws heavy opposition. Meanwhile, other flag states are pushing their own fixes: Liberia wants the framework’s requirements linked to how available and affordable cleaner fuels actually are, and Japan floated replacing the pricing mechanism with contributions directed by shipowners themselves — an idea reportedly rejected firmly behind closed doors. Smaller island states, for their part, are pushing in the opposite direction, calling for tougher requirements.

A proposal from China involving reward payments and a single centralized transaction system reportedly won broad backing, with observers suggesting roughly two-thirds of member states now favor some form of centralized pricing and collection that also rewards early movers on decarbonization.

Experts Warn of Lost Balance

Dr. Tristan Smith of the UCL Shipping and Oceans Research Group cautioned that despite positive signs, there is still considerable uncertainty over how much support will be extended to industry and to lower-income countries during the transition. He warned that the search for a creative compromise risks upsetting the balance between those two priorities that made the original framework possible — a risk to the overall outcome if that equilibrium is lost.

UCL researchers also flagged that the initial Global Fuel Intensity pathway may be softened further, and that debate continues over how credits might be pooled or transferred between parties. The lifecycle emissions framework, notably, wasn’t even taken up this round and has been pushed to the next session.

What It Means for Owners and Managers

For ship owners, managers, and charterers, this prolonged uncertainty is itself an operational cost. Fleet decarbonization planning, newbuild fuel choices, and retrofit budgeting all depend on knowing what compliance will actually require and when. With the lifecycle framework, pooling rules, and pricing mechanism still unsettled, companies are effectively being asked to commit capital toward emissions reduction without a finished rulebook.

In the meantime, robust documentation of fuel consumption, emissions data, and vessel condition will only become more important as whatever framework does emerge — centralized pricing, credit pooling, or a hybrid — will likely lean heavily on verified operational data. Surveys and inspections that confirm bunker quantities, machinery condition, and fuel efficiency now double as a foundation for whatever reporting regime eventually takes shape, making accurate baseline data a hedge against regulatory uncertainty rather than just a compliance box to tick.

Next Steps

The IMO’s working group is set to reconvene on November 23 for another week of talks, followed immediately by MEPC 85 from November 30 to December 4. An extraordinary session adjourned back in October 2025 is expected to resume on December 4, contingent on MEPC 85 reaching conclusions. Whether that sequence produces the resolution the IMO is aiming for by year’s end remains, for now, an open question.

Reviewed by Ibrahim Halil Ceylan, Marine Surveyor at Apeks Marine.