by Lloyd's List
INTERNATIONAL Maritime Organization green talks held in the wake of the Marine Environment Protection Committee bombshell have suggested countries can still make progress on carbon pricing, according to green shipping researchers present.
The pivotal MEPC meeting was adjourned for a year on October 17, throwing the IMO’s emissions work plan into doubt, because of divisions over its plan to tax some big ships’ greenhouse gas emissions.
But the intersessional working group on greenhouse gas emissions (ISWG-GHG) meeting went ahead as planned last week, despite doubts about whether its Net-Zero Framework will be adopted next year.
The ISWG is a technical forum, closed to the press, for countries to work on the nuts and bolts of the NZF, on questions such as how the money from a carbon tax should be spent, and how to rank and reward alternative ship fuels.
The UCL Shipping and Oceans Research Group said in a report that the talks were promising despite the challenges witnessed at MEPC the week before.
“We observed constructive participation from all parties — including those with prior concerns — which led to real progress on key technical guidelines,” UCL research fellow Annika Frosch said.
“Even previously contentious topics such as the Net-Zero Fund experienced broad and active involvement from many delegations, helping to clarify priorities like establishing the Governing Board and fundamental principles to guide the fund’s future work.”
UCL’s report on the ISWG-GHG session, which was off limits to the press, said the reward mechanism would likely remain fluid, though there was good support among governments for differentiating rewards to different fuels.
UCL said the definition of zero or near-zero (ZNZ) fuels looked unlikely to go beyond the detail in the Marpol amendment so far, based on the discussion last week.
That means a GHG fuel intensity (GFI) score below 19 grams of CO2 equivalent per megajoule before 2035 and 14 gCO2e per MJ after 2035.
Greens want a stricter definition so that polluting options, such as crop-based biofuels, aren’t given subsidies over hydrogen-based e-fuels. The latter are more expensive though, so can be expected to face political resistance.
There were mixed signals on the Net-Zero Fund at last week’s talks, judging by delegates’ submissions.
“Some were keen to move forwards with urgency and develop some initial governing provisions that would provide a minimum further clarity, but there was also opposition to this,” UCL said.
UCL professor Tristan Smith said adoption was still a possibility. But the future adoption could depend on further blocking by the US and Saudi Arabia.
“Even if there are sound fundamentals for IMO action, the state of geopolitics in 12 months’ (or more) time will likely still be significant to success or failure,” Smith said.
Lloyd’s Register, a class society, said in a report that countries want further work done on the legal status of the Net-Zero Fund’s governing provisions, and on the participation of non-parties and observer organisations to its governing board.
LR said the green lifecycle assessment guidelines could be amended at MEPC84, which will be held in April or May 2026.
LR added that since the last MEPC didn’t officially finish, several Marpol changes were not adopted, though these had nothing to do with the NZF.
These include the designation of the North-East Atlantic Ocean as an Emission Control Area for NOx, SOx and particulate matter.
If adopted, it would have come into force on March 1, 2027 and for into effect for SOx emissions on March 1, 2028.
