London, 17 February 2025: The International Maritime Organization (IMO) ISWG-GHG 18 negotiations starting today are the first of a series of meetings this year that should finalise and adopt a series of mid-term measures to align the shipping industry’s decarbonisation trajectory with the IMO’s 2023 Strategy targets.

The fuel standard and pricing mechanism that the measures are set to include will be crucial for advancing the development, production and deployment of alternative marine fuels, including e-fuels produced from green hydrogen. It is these fuels that have the fewest lifecycle emissions, and putting a price on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will help level the playing field so they can compete against fossil fuels.

Aurelia Leeuw, Director of EU Policy at the SASHA Coalition and Opportunity Green, said:

“With this week’s IMO negotiations fundamentally setting the tone of climate action in the maritime sector, participating states must home in on an ambitious basket of midterm measures to be finalised in April. Getting polluters to pay for the full climate impact of their fossil fuel use would ensure the shipping industry plays its part in keeping the 1.5ºC Paris Agreement goal within reach, and would kickstart the deployment of the alternative fuels with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, namely green hydrogen e-fuels. We hope the negotiations will deliver the level of ambition that the climate crisis demands and that the shipping industry needs to make the transition in a just and equitable manner.”