A landmark deal to clean up the global shipping industry’s emissions has been postponed for at least a year, after a successful campaign by the US and Saudi Arabia to delay its adoption.

In April 2025, governments provisionally agreed the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Net-Zero Framework (NZF), which would penalise high-emitting ships around the world and use the money to fund the transition to cleaner vessels and fuels.

An extraordinary set of talks was called in London this week where the plan was for the new system to be formally adopted. But, after a bad-tempered four days of discussions, governments voted narrowly for a Saudi Arabian proposal to postpone the decision for a year.

The NZF was scheduled to set emissions reduction targets for ships starting in 2028. But this – and the rest of the framework’s timeline – have now been plunged into doubt. Although some technical work can continue, political progress will have to wait until October 2026 when delegates will next take up the issue of whether to adopt the NZF.

‘Catastrophic’ for confidence

Ralph Regenvanu, minister of climate change for the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, said the decision to delay the NZF is “unacceptable” given the urgency of accelerating climate change. He added that, according to a recent ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), climate action is not optional under international law.

“The IMO’s failure to adopt the framework this week marks a failure of this United Nations agency to act decisively on climate change. This makes the road to Bélem and beyond more difficult. But we know that we have international law on our side and will continue to fight for our people and the planet,” said Regenvanu.

Climate campaigners and researchers also lamented the delay. University College London shipping professor Tristan Smith said the decision was “catastrophic for confidence, and therefore also for the equitable and ambitious decarbonisation we need”. 

“Those with the means must step up and lead more than ever, until this multilateral process can regain its composure,” he added. The European Union, for example, is implementing its own regulations similar to the NZF, called Fuel EU.

John Maggs, the Clean Shipping Coalition’s representative at the IMO, said that “governments serious about climate action must spend the next 12 months rallying every nation that supports the framework, convincing those who are on the fence, or opposing, that its adoption is the only sane way forward.”

The World Shipping Council, an international trade association, emphasised the importance of using the year ahead to clarify and develop the IMO Net-Zero Framework, adding that the IMO’s greenhouse gas strategy and the industry’s investment trajectory “remain aligned toward net-zero by 2050”.

“A globally agreed framework is needed to provide a level playing field to get there,” it added in a statement. “The liner industry is committed to the goal of net-zero by 2050 and has invested $150 billion in ships designed to run on green fuels.”

Momentum builds for strong adaptation outcome at COP30  

Trump’s threats

Ahead of the meeting, the US government had threatened a series of measures targeting government officials who supported the NZF and threatening to make it difficult and expensive for those countries’ ships to call at US ports.

A joint statement by the US transport and foreign ministers said: “We will fight hard to protect our economic interests by imposing costs on countries if they support the NZF. Our fellow IMO members should be on notice.”

And on Thursday, President Donald Trump tried to intervene directly in the IMO process, urging countries to vote against what he called “this Global Green New Scam Tax on Shipping” and “a Green New Scam Bureaucracy”. In a post on his Truth Social platform, he suggested that the NZF would lead to higher prices for American consumers, adding that the US “will not adhere to it in any way, shape, or form”.

After the vote was postponed, Bob Ward from the Grantham Institute on Climate Change criticised “the bullying by the United States government” which he said “proves that the Trump administration is a threat to the well-being and prosperity of people across the globe.”

A week of procedural politics

Back in April, governments voted 63 to 16 in favour of the NZF – with several Pacific countries abstaining as they said it lacked ambition. But many of the nations that backed the NZF in April supported the postponement of talks this week.

They included major economies like China, India, Colombia and Kenya, but also many small nations reliant on their shipping registries such as Liberia, Bahamas, Panama and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Others – like New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Cyprus and Greece – abstained.

Those opposing the postponement were mainly European and Pacific countries as well as pro-climate action Latin American nations like Chile, Brazil and Mexico.

The four days of talks were marked by procedural wrangling, with the US and Saudi alliance trying to block the adoption of the agenda on the first day, and then attempting to amend the procedure for adopting the NZF on the second and third.

At the start of Friday – the last day of talks – Brazil’s negotiator proposed a vote on the NZF itself. Singapore then raised the prospect of voting for an adjournment of talks, before Saudi Arabia called for a vote on that plan.

The two sides debated for hours – first in the open meeting and then privately with the head of the IMO Arsenio Dominguez at the front of the room – which vote should be taken first.

After a break for lunch, the IMO decided to hold the postponement vote first. While 49 nations voted against, 57 voted to postpone the decision for a year, giving them the majority. Twenty-one countries abstained and eight were not present.

2030 target to cut emissions still in place

Brazil’s proposed vote on the NZF never took place and their lead negotiator politely declined to be interviewed by Climate Home News as he left the venue, after consolations from negotiators on his side of the debate.

While its adoption has been delayed, technical work on the NZF will continue, starting next week. Issues to be discussed include how the emissions intensities of different fuels should be judged and how the money raised by the levies on fuels should be spent and governed.

Speaking to journalists after the adjournment, IMO head Arsenio Dominguez remained upbeat. “The framework is still there and the member states are still talking,” he said, adding that the target agreed in 2023 to reduce global shipping’s emissions by 20% – while striving for 30% – on 2022 levels by 2030 remains in effect.

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US-led alliance wins a year’s delay in adoption of green shipping deal