Despite a collapse of talks over a global carbon price in the shipping industry, most major players continue with their investments in emission-reducing fuels and vessels, according to Reuters analysis of data and interviews with shipping firms, ship brokers, bunker suppliers, and marine technology providers.
Last year, the United Nations agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), discussed for months a proposed adoption of the so-called Net-Zero Framework, initially proposed in 2023. The framework includes a global fuel standard and a pricing mechanism for global greenhouse gas emissions.
The IMO has estimated that shipping emissions—about 3% of the global total—could surge by as much as 150% by mid-century without action.
But at the end of 2025, the talks collapsed, as the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, the biggest oil producers in the world, managed to get enough support to postpone the decision on a carbon price by one year.
The shipping industry, which accounts for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, has not changed course despite the lack of a global framework on emissions reduction.
In fact, Reuters interviews with companies operating and servicing the sector show that most of these go ahead with their plans to either use additional volumes of fuels alternative to the fuel oil, or order ships that can run both on fuel oil and cleaner-fuel alternatives such as LNG, methanol, and ammonia.
Despite the lack of global regulations, regional emission rules, such as the EU’s FuelEU Maritime regulation, are prompting many shipping industry players to continue investments in greener alternatives to be ready for the regulatory framework in the long term.
“The case for low-carbon fuels such as ammonia and methanol is still alive if you have a trade concentrated around Europe,” Kenneth Tveter, Global Head of Green Transition and LCO2 Shipping at ship broker Clarksons, told Reuters.
By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com
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