IMO Net-Zero Framework Heads to a December Vote, and LNG Is the Wild Card

After two years of delay, the world's first global carbon rules for shipping have a date. The IMO Net-Zero Framework was approved in draft at MEPC 83 in April 2025, but its formal adoption slipped twice: the October 2025 extraordinary session adjourned on a 57-49 vote, and the September 2026 intersessional working group closed without agreement. Member states now meet at MEPC 85 from 30 November to 3 December, with the resumed session set for 4 December 2026.

The draft, built into MARPOL Annex VI, covers ocean-going ships above 5,000 gross tonnage, a segment responsible for more than 85 per cent of international shipping emissions. It pairs a greenhouse gas fuel-intensity ceiling that tightens each year with a pricing mechanism: ships exceeding the limits buy remedial units, priced in the April 2025 draft at 100 and 380 US dollars per tonne of CO2-equivalent for the 2028-2030 reporting periods. Those figures remain open to negotiation, as does the start date.

Money is where the talks keep breaking. The United States opposes an IMO-administered global fund financed by emissions payments. In August, Federal Maritime Commission chairman Laura DiBella signalled Washington could back a revised framework that recognises LNG and bio-LNG as transitional fuels, and in September the US delegation reportedly softened toward alternatives such as a Brazil-style temporary financing facility. The industry has meanwhile voted with its orderbook: classification society DNV counted 200 LNG-capable newbuilds ordered in the first nine months of 2026, up 52 per cent year on year, and 48 of the 69 alternative-fuel ships ordered in September alone ran on LNG, mostly container ships and car carriers. IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said on 21 October in Shanghai that abandoning decarbonisation is not an option, and indicated a revised framework could accommodate LNG as a transitional fuel. The technical sticking point is accounting: methane slip across the well-to-wake chain may matter more to operating costs than whether LNG is allowed at all.

The balance of opinion is not close, though. A University College London review of September's session found 38 countries spoke in favour of greenhouse gas pricing and a central fund, against 17 opposed, and Liberia and Japan have tabled alternative proposals. Greece and Cyprus abstained on the 2025 adjournment, splitting the EU bloc for the first time.

For shippers, the practical read is that none of this waits until 2028. Shipping already pays nearly 20 per cent of the bill under the EU Emissions Trading System despite accounting for about 10 per cent of covered emissions, because it receives no free allowances, and that cost flows straight into bunker adjustment factors. Whether or not December's vote passes, fuel-cost pass-through clauses deserve as much attention as the freight rate itself when 2027 contracts are negotiated: fix the trigger, the index and the cap in writing.

Transit and customs references for European gateways: our Europe lane page.

Source: As reported by Cyprus Mail / TradeWinds / DNV.