The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adjourned for one year the extraordinary session convened to adopt the IMO Net-Zero Framework. The IMO announced on 17 October 2025 that the second extraordinary session of its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), held in London from 14 to 17 October, would be reconvened in 12 months, and that Member States would continue to work towards consensus in the meantime.
Corporate INTL Newsroom · Maritime & Shipping
IMO Net-Zero Framework Adoption Adjourned for One Year
By The Corporate INTL Newsroom · 20 October 2025
What was on the table
The session was called to consider draft amendments to Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention, according to the IMO meeting preview. The Net-Zero Framework was approved at MEPC 83 in April 2025 as a new Chapter 5 of a revised MARPOL Annex VI. It would set international rules to cut greenhouse gas emissions from ships, in line with the 2023 IMO Strategy on the Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships.
The framework has two key elements: a global fuel standard that would progressively reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of the fuel ships use, and a global greenhouse gas emissions pricing mechanism.
What happens next
With adoption postponed, the timetable for the framework entering into force also moves back. Technical work continues: the Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships was scheduled to meet from 20 to 24 October 2025 to carry on developing the guidelines needed to implement the framework.
Who is affected
Shipowners, charterers, fuel suppliers, financiers and insurers had been preparing for a global regime under which ships would face compliance costs linked to the greenhouse gas intensity of their fuel. Contracts, including charterparties and vessel financing terms, that anticipated the framework may need to be revisited. Ports, bunker suppliers and producers of alternative fuels that planned investment around the framework face the same uncertainty. The adjournment extends regulatory uncertainty for investment decisions on new vessels and alternative fuels. Regional measures, such as those already applying to shipping in the European Union, are unaffected by the postponement.
Sources
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