“Prolonged uncertainty will put off investments and diminish confidence in IMO, your organisation,” IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez says to UN committee deliberating on adoption of binding emissions rules
The meeting to adopt into law a series of regulations governing the trajectory of the global shipping industry’s decarbonisation timeline has begun at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), with loud voices from outside and inside the industry seeking to influence the outcome.
Deliberations have begun around regulatory amendments to maritime pollution treaty Marpol, known as the Net-Zero Framework (NZF), at an extraordinary session of the IMO’s Maritime Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC). Some 127 of the organisation’s 176 member states – those that are signatories to Marpol – are making known their positions on the NZF, along with non-voting members and accredited organisations that attend.
The United States, under President Donald Trump and his administration, have led the pack of dissenters, with refusals to participate in standard multilateral discussions and vocal rejections of IMO’s approval of the NZF in April 2025. In the lead up to the meeting to adopt the regulations, the US has lobbed threats at member states that differ from its position on the regulatory framework.
As the meeting began, IMO Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez called for diplomacy and respect in proceedings.
“Remember, this is IMO. Here, we are diplomatic and respectful to one another, we listen to everyone’s opinion, we take steps forward, and we are always looking to improve in this ever-changing sector,” he said.
Mr Dominguez made a case for his organisation’s place in setting international rules for shipping, saying the alternative would be inefficient, drive away investors and strip the industry of the right to decide how to use billions in revenue that is set to be collected under the carbon pricing element of the NZF regulations.
“The energy and digital transition of shipping have already started. However, the absence of global regulations will increase the costs of this transition in the long run. It will incite a proliferation of regional and national climate measures leading to inefficiency and a myriad of emissions pricing schemes, without IMO – all of you, the member states – or the industry having a say in how to use the collected revenue,” he said.
