Has the climate action been cancelled or postponed (IMO MEPC postponement)

Has the climate action been cancelled or postponed (IMO MEPC postponement)?

Evening programme – NZF Postponement: Impacts and Industry Perspectives

• Danish Maritime Authority (DMA)
• BIMCO
• Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping
• Engine manufacturer (Everllence)

The DMA will open the evening with an overview of the key outcomes from the MEPC-ES2 meeting, where agreement on the NZF was postponed. The political landscape remains divided, with some states pushing for higher ambition and others calling for more flexibility and differentiation. The coming period will be critical for rebuilding consensus. Whether the current NZF proposal can be adopted in 2026 remains uncertain, and further revision may be required to secure broad support.

BIMCO will address the commercial situation created by the decision to pause the meeting. Have the lack of clarity already influenced investment decisions? Has it slowed newbuilding activity? Are charter strategies affected? What will happen at IMO on GHG reductions in the near term? What are the trends on climate change policy in the world outside IMO? BIMCO will highlight how the organisation is supporting members in navigating these shifting dynamics.

The Center will examine whether the postponement risks undermining the IMO GHG Strategy. Member States’ calls for clearer NZF guidelines - and the difficulty of developing those guidelines without a finalized regulation - illustrate the tight coupling of the process. If agreement is reached in October 2026, the pathway to 2050 remains technically possible but far more compressed. Achieving the long-term target will require rapid mobilisation of investment, technology deployment, and infrastructure immediately after adoption.

Everllence will offer the engine manufacturer’s perspective, coming shortly after announcing readiness of the first two-stroke ammonia engine. The postponement has created uncertainty for fuel-pathway decisions across the fleet, yet technological progress continues to accelerate. Everllence will discuss how they see the market landscape evolving, whether the delay is likely to slow adoption of alternative-fuel engines, and how manufacturers can help the industry maintain momentum despite regulatory ambiguity.

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Photo credit: “IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) 2nd extraordinary session” by International Maritime Organization, CC BY 4.0.

The event is in collaboration with Danish Society for Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.

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