The Global Maritime Forum, together with the UCL Energy Institute and the Getting to Zero Coalition, has launched the fifth edition of its annual "Climate Action in Shipping" report at New York Climate Week, tracking the sector's progress toward having 5-10% of international shipping's fuel come from scalable zero-emission fuels (SZEF) by 2030. The report concludes that failure to adopt the IMO's Net-Zero Framework over the past year has been, in its own words, "the single most transition-regressive event" recorded across the five years the report has been running.
What Counts as a Scalable Zero-Emission Fuel, and What Doesn't
The report applies a deliberately narrow definition: a fuel must be scalable enough to eventually match current annual consumption of 200-300 million tonnes of oil equivalent, achieve 90-100% greenhouse gas intensity reduction against fossil fuels on a full life-cycle basis, and be realistically cost-competitive given continued R&D and viable policy support. That definition explicitly excludes biofuels, LNG and other less-polluting fossil fuels, blue fuels derived from fossil sources such as natural-gas-based hydrogen, and carbon capture applications, meaning the report's tracked target is narrower than "any alternative fuel" and captures specifically green hydrogen-derived fuels such as green ammonia and green methanol.
Where the Data Shows Genuine Progress
Several indicators moved forward substantially over the past year: the world's first ammonia bunkering operations and sea trials took place; the number of ports offering methanol bunkering rose 53%, from 19 to 29; methanol-capable in-service tonnage tripled, which the report describes as the largest single-year capability gain on record; and the global shipping finance portfolio recorded its greatest year-on-year improvement in climate alignment to date.
Where the Data Shows Stagnation or Reversal
Against that progress, the report tracked genuine regression in three of its five assessed areas. Demand, finance and policy have each either stagnated or worsened: the order book share of SZEF-capable vessels fell from 9.5% to 5.7% of total tonnage on order, and shipping-specific sustainable debt issuance dropped from USD 3.4 billion in 2024 to USD 3.0 billion in 2025. The report's own 2026 progress tracker rates technology and supply, and civil society, as "partially on track," while rating demand, finance and policy as "not on track."
Why the Report Frames Regulatory Uncertainty as the Central Driver
UCL Energy Institute research fellow Dr Pinar Langer's assessment, cited directly in the report's launch materials, attributes the demand, finance and policy stagnation specifically to a widespread "wait and see" posture industry-wide following the IMO's failure to adopt the Net-Zero Framework, arguing that reversing that momentum loss and securing regulatory certainty this year is one of the most consequential steps available to give shipowners confidence to order zero-emission vessels, lenders incentive to finance them, and charterers reason to pay a premium for low-carbon shipping.
The Report's Central Recommendation
The report's headline recommendation is that the IMO adopt the Net-Zero Framework "as is" at its upcoming session in December, on the basis that doing so would provide the global policy clarity the report argues the wider ecosystem urgently needs. It separately stresses the importance of national and regional policy supporting SZEF production specifically to de-risk first-mover investment, regardless of what happens at the IMO level.
What the Report Does, and Does Not, Conclude
The report's own framing is that the 2030 target remains achievable, but conditional on lost momentum being regained quickly through Net-Zero Framework adoption this year, combined with accelerated industry and national action; it does not characterise the target as already lost, nor does it characterise current momentum as sufficient on its own.
Source: Global Maritime Forum, 22 September 2026.
