In October 2025, negotiations at the second extraordinary session of the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) ended with a decision to delay the vote on the adoption of the Net-Zero Framework by one year. This decision followed a contentious meeting that featured political pressure from opponents of adoption.
Since then, work on specific guidelines within the framework has continued in the run-up to the April 2026 meeting of the IMO’s Intersessional Working Group (ISWG-GHG 21) and MEPC 84, which follows just days later.
This progress is intended to give countries greater clarity as part of the 2026 negotiations and the expected vote on the adoption of the Framework. This Q&A explains what happened at last year’s MEPC extraordinary session, what is included in the framework, the guidelines, and how the regulations will work if and when they take effect.
What is the International Maritime Organization?
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is the shipping industry’s global regulator. It is a specialised agency of the United Nations. It has 176 Member States and three associate members. Additionally, 66 intergovernmental organisations have observer status, while 89 international non-governmental organisations have consultative status. Those lists can be found here.
What is the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC)?
The MEPC addresses environmental issues under the remit of the IMO. It typically convenes once or twice per year to address issues such as the control and prevention of ship-source pollution covered by the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).
What does the MEPC do?
Several key decisions have been reached at past MEPC meetings, such as the adoption of a revised greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy at MEPC 80 in July 2023. The 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships called for net-zero sector emissions “by or around 2050”, set ambitious indicative 2030 and 2040 checkpoints for emissions reductions, and introduced a target for zero- or near-zero-emission fuels and technologies to make up at least five percent (striving for ten percent) of the energy used by international shipping by 2030.
At MEPC 83 in April 2025, IMO Member States agreed in principle to the Net-Zero Framework, which included global, binding regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve the goals of the 2023 strategy. When adopted and enforced, the framework would make shipping the first (and only) industry with binding emissions reductions.
What is in the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework?
The Net-Zero Framework (NZF) comprises a range of technical and economic measures that set the global shipping sector on a path to net-zero emissions by 2050. This includes a global fuel standard that sets greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity reduction targets for each year through 2035, with penalties for failing to meet them.
Revenues generated by these penalties will fund a reward mechanism for zero- and near-zero-emission fuels and support a “just and equitable transition”. This includes the availability, uptake, and transfer of zero-emission fuels and technologies; seafarer training; capacity building; and addressing disproportionate negative impacts on developing states. More about what is included can be found here.
The NZF also establishes a credit-trading scheme through which vessels with lower emissions can generate credits to sell to owners of higher-emission vessels.
When adopted, the NZF will be included in a new Chapter 5 of Annex VI of MARPOL. There are currently 111 parties to Annex VI, which together cover roughly 97% of the global shipping fleet by tonnage.
Why did negotiations on the Net-Zero Framework end in a delay?
The MEPC extraordinary session held in October 2025 adjourned without reaching an agreement on shipping’s Net-Zero Framework after the negotiations were beset by extreme political pressures not usually seen in the consensus-driven body.
The session is set to reconvene in the fall of 2026, prolonging policy uncertainty around the transition to zero-emission shipping. In the meantime, work on implementation guidelines has continued with the aim of paving the way for adoption later this year. Several national, regional, and industry actors are intensifying their work to accelerate progress, while the international community sustains its commitment to multilateralism and continues work on a global regulatory framework.
Where do negotiations on the overall framework stand today?
After the adjournment of the extraordinary session in 2025, discussions about the future of the Net-Zero Framework have fractured. While work on the implementation guidelines has progressed, some countries have put forward proposals to reopen the regulatory text agreed upon last year at MEPC 83. This injects significant uncertainty into the agreement's future. When considering countries’ stated positions, there does not appear to be an alternative capable of generating agreement other than the existing Net-Zero Framework (which itself was the result of several years of negotiation and compromise). Thus, maritime stakeholders now face a wide range of plausible scenarios. At one extreme, the NZF could be adopted ‘as is’ later this year, entering into force in 2028 and coming into effect in 2029. At the other extreme, a prolonged political deadlock could delay regulatory certainty on GHG reductions for several years. At either extreme, the details in the guidelines are critical to assessing the viability of different investment choices—both up- and downstream, across fuel production and vessel technologies—and will also determine the extent to which the policy can deliver on the IMO’s unanimously agreed Greenhouse Gas Strategy of 2023.
Which guidelines are under discussion at the ISWG, and what’s their status?
Since last October, Member States have continued advancing the guidelines under the Net-Zero Framework. Work resumed at the ISWG-GHG 20 meeting held just one week after the delay and has continued through informal groups. Several guidelines, including zero- and near-zero fuel rewards, a global fuel standard, and fuel pathway certification, have made significant progress, with draft texts now on the table. The life cycle assessment emission factors are under review by the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP). A global climate fund specifically for international shipping (currently referred to as the Net-Zero Fund) remains one of the least developed elements. Still, key submissions have been made to MEPC 84 and ISWG-GHG 21, and further progress is expected given its importance for securing political support from the Global South. Read more on this here.