IMO Net-Zero Framework Holds Ground After Latest Round of Climate Talks

The International Maritime Organization’s Net-Zero Framework emerged largely intact from another round of negotiations this week, despite a push by the United States and several oil-producing countries to weaken or replace key parts of the agreement.

Delegates wrapped up four days of technical talks in London on Friday, with the carbon pricing mechanism once again at the center of the debate.

According to observers at the meeting, 38 countries that spoke explicitly backed keeping carbon pricing and the revenue mechanism at the heart of the framework, while 17 countries, largely oil-producing states, opposed it over concerns about costs.

The numbers suggest there is still substantial support for the basic framework agreed last year, even as governments remain divided over some of the details.

The framework would combine increasingly strict limits on the greenhouse gas intensity of marine fuels with a system that charges ships for emissions while rewarding the use of cleaner fuels. The economic mechanism is expected to raise roughly $10 billion to $15 billion a year, making the fate of that money — and who ultimately pays — one of the biggest sticking points.

“This week’s debate demonstrated a clear commitment among member states to come to an agreement by the end of this year,” said Jamie Yates, Climate & Renewable Energy Manager at Pacific Environment.

Yates said there was “no clear majority shift towards any of the alternative proposals,” leaving the existing Net-Zero Framework as the most viable option on the table.

That was far from certain heading into this week’s meeting.

Liberia has proposed one of the biggest departures from the current framework, calling for emissions requirements to be tied more closely to whether cleaner fuels are actually available and affordable. Its proposal would largely replace the IMO Fund-based mechanism with transferable Surplus Units that ships could trade, bank or borrow.

Brazil has proposed keeping most of the framework while easing its initial targets, while Tuvalu wants tougher requirements. Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom have largely backed the existing structure, with additional rules governing how revenues would be collected and distributed.

China has also pushed for more flexibility, including greater recognition of technologies such as wind propulsion, shore power and solar power.

But the biggest fight remains over putting a price on shipping emissions.

European countries, Pacific Island states and Norway argue that weakening the pricing mechanism would undermine investment in alternative fuels and make the IMO’s climate targets harder to reach.

Liberia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pushed back, warning that a global carbon price could raise transportation costs and hit remote and trade-dependent economies particularly hard.

The United States has also been one of the framework’s strongest opponents.

The Net-Zero Framework was agreed in April 2025, but its formal adoption was later delayed after a 57-49 vote amid strong pressure from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. It is intended to help shipping meet the IMO’s 2023 target of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by or around 2050.

Supporters of the framework came away from this week’s meeting arguing that efforts to substantially rewrite it had failed to gain enough support.

“The Net-Zero framework remains intact, despite pressure from a minority of detractors seeking to undermine climate action by the shipping sector, and must be adopted without further delay,” said Lukas Leppert, President of the Clean Shipping Coalition.

Jesse Fahnestock, Director of Decarbonisation at the Global Maritime Forum, said the talks showed countries were still willing to look for common ground while sticking to the broader goals agreed in 2023.

There is still plenty left to negotiate. The IMO will hold another technical working group meeting November 23-27, followed by the Marine Environment Protection Committee’s MEPC 85 session from November 30 through December 3. The framework is then expected to come up for adoption at an extraordinary MEPC meeting on December 4.

For now, this week’s talks appear to have left the central framework where it was when delegates arrived in London: still alive, still deeply contested and still the leading option for a global shipping emissions regime.

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