Recently, the 2026 Shanghai Green Fuel Ecological Cooperation and Sustainable Development Forum (hereinafter referred to as the “Forum”) was held in Shanghai. With the theme “Chain-Driven Green · Symbiotic Future,” the forum gathered over a hundred guests from government authorities, international shipping enterprises, energy companies, research institutions, and financial institutions. In-depth dialogues were conducted on core topics such as global shipping green transformation, green fuel technology iteration, supply chain construction, and green finance empowerment, injecting strong momentum into Shanghai’s efforts to build an international green fuel bunkering and trading center and to promote low-carbon sustainable development in global shipping. This forum was an industry event featuring deep integration of policy, technology, industry, and finance.
Policy Navigation
Anchoring the Strategic Direction of Shanghai’s Green Shipping “Dual Center”
At the forum, government and platform institution leaders clarified the strategic positioning and action direction for Shanghai’s green shipping transformation, laying a solid policy foundation for the development of the green fuel industry.
Zhang Xin, Deputy Director of the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, pointed out in his speech that the global low-carbon transformation of green shipping has moved from consensus to action. Policies such as the International Maritime Organization’s emission reduction strategy and the EU Maritime Fuel Regulation are being implemented intensively, making green shipping a key variable in restructuring the global shipping value chain. As an international shipping center, Shanghai has built a port that is among the few globally capable of bunkering LNG, biofuels, and green methanol simultaneously. Methanol bunkering has achieved normal operation, with green fuel bunkering volumes ranking among the top globally, and the construction of international green shipping corridors is steadily advancing.
Relying on the “Implementation Plan for Supporting the Construction of Shanghai International Shipping Green Fuel Bunkering Center and Trading Center” issued by 10 departments including the Ministry of Transport, Shanghai has defined three major development paths for the “15th Five-Year Plan” period: first, enhancing the capacity to guarantee green fuel supply; second, building a green marine fuel certification, trading, and bunkering center; third, deepening international cooperation on green shipping and improving the global low-carbon technology exchange and standard-setting system. Shanghai will work with all sectors to create a resilient green marine fuel supply chain and ecosystem.
Zou Rong, Co-Chair of the Shanghai Climate Week Executive Committee, stated that this forum, as an important activity of Climate Week, practices the concept of “China’s Action, Asia’s Voice, World Standards,” building a collaborative bridge for the green transformation of shipping.
Shi Xin, Vice President of Shanghai Maritime University, stated that the university is conducting scientific research and innovation in areas such as carbon emission accounting, green fuel certification, and carbon reduction technology evaluation, deeply participating in the construction of international green shipping corridors, and providing intellectual and talent support for the construction of Shanghai’s green fuel “dual center.”
Multiple guests agreed that policy guidance, platform empowerment, and technical support are the core cornerstones of the green transformation of shipping. Guided by national strategy, Shanghai is seizing the commanding heights of global green shipping development.
Macro Breakthrough
Shipping Centers Moving Towards “Resilience Competition” Amidst Geopolitical Changes
During the keynote speech session of the forum, industry authoritative experts focused on the global macro situation and corporate practices, analyzing the challenges and paths of the green transformation of shipping.
Xu Zuyuan, former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transport and member of the China Old Transportation Think Tank, gave a speech titled “Leap in the Capability of Shanghai International Shipping Center Under the Impact of Global Geopolitical Risks.” He proposed that geopolitical risks have become a core variable reshaping the shipping landscape. With the restructuring of global energy trade, disruption of capacity supply, intensification of financial risks, and rising compliance barriers, the construction of the Shanghai International Shipping Center faces challenges at the physical, financial, and regulatory levels.
Xu Zuyuan pointed out that the future competition for the Shanghai International Shipping Center is a competition of “stability” and “resilience.” A resilience system needs to be built from three dimensions: first, physical resilience, implementing a multi-channel backup strategy, strengthening rail-sea intermodal transport, and deploying transshipment hubs to ensure supply chain security; second, digital resilience, promoting supply chain visualization, promoting electronic bills of lading and blockchain applications, and leveraging big data and AI technology to enhance risk management capabilities; third, enhancing institutional resilience, establishing a geopolitical risk insurance mechanism, formulating a Shanghai version of compliance guidelines, strengthening international discourse power, and promoting the formation of “Shanghai Clauses.” “Shanghai must move from being the world’s largest port to the world’s strongest and most resilient shipping center, from a rule follower to a participant in rule-making, contributing Chinese solutions to global shipping development,” he stated.
The practices of global shipping enterprises provide vivid examples for the green transformation. Xia Rufeng, Director of Strategic Business Development for CMA CGM Group China, shared that CMA CGM Group has set a net-zero carbon emission target for 2050 and built a dual-pillar decarbonization strategy of “reducing energy consumption and increasing green energy.” Facing the challenge of green fuel costs, CMA CGM Group has launched green transportation solutions, sharing costs with customers, while also establishing a special fund to invest in decarbonization innovation projects, promoting low-carbon transformation across the entire chain.
Technology Breakthrough
Iteration and Upgrading of Multiple Fuels to Solve Core Supply Chain Bottlenecks
Green fuel technology and supply chain construction were core topics of the forum. Jian Yanjun, Director of the Regulations and Green Technology Research Department at the Shanghai Rules and Research Institute of the China Classification Society, outlined the development trends of four core alternative fuels: LNG, as a mature transitional fuel, faces the challenge of methane slip; biofuels have the best compatibility but are limited by feedstock supply; green methanol, being liquid and easy to store and transport, is a core medium-to-long-term fuel but faces cost and capacity bottlenecks; ammonia fuel has outstanding zero-carbon properties, but issues of toxicity, corrosiveness, and energy density hinder its promotion. He pointed out that the biggest bottleneck currently facing the industry is the lack of unified global emission reduction rules and certification systems, and the future will see a pattern of multiple fuels coexisting.
Zhang Jieshu, Secretary-General of the Shanghai International Shipping Institute, introduced that green methanol is one of the very few green fuels that can simultaneously meet the long-term compliance requirements of the IMO and the EU for 2035. Globally, green methanol is experiencing “planning heat, production cold.” While China’s planned production capacity ranks first globally, the conversion rate is relatively low, and the supply-demand gap for marine green methanol will persist until 2030. Shanghai has already achieved a closed-loop for the entire green methanol chain. The next step requires five major paths—opening the market, consolidating infrastructure, forming procurement alliances, institutional innovation, and building a trading center—to achieve the goal of supplying millions of tons of green methanol.
Enterprises on the production and equipment sides shared practical breakthroughs. Shenergy Environmental Technology is advancing industrialization through paths such as biogas-to-methanol, biomass gasification-to-fuel, and green electricity coupled with synthetic methanol, focusing on green electricity, green fuel, and green finance. Wärtsilä China stated that methanol engine technology has a leading maturity level, ammonia fuel engines have been put into application, and the upgradeable multi-fuel engine platform can reduce the transformation risk for shipowners.
Ecological Synergy
Certification, Finance, and Digitalization Jointly Build a Transformation Support System
Green transformation cannot be achieved without the coordinated efforts of the entire ecosystem. Roundtable dialogues focused on topics such as zero-carbon certification, green finance, and cross-sector cooperation to address pain points in industrial development.
Zhang Dayong, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Association for the Promotion of Industrial Development, introduced that the zero-carbon certification platform addresses pain points such as inconsistent standards, untrustworthy data, difficult traceability, high costs, and difficulty in realizing value. An online monitoring big data platform has been established, with certificates gaining international recognition. It can achieve data interoperability with the Shanghai Green Fuel Trading Center, providing underlying support for transactions.
Representatives from financial institutions shared innovative practices. The Shanghai Branch of the Bank of Communications has launched tools such as sustainability-linked loans and carbon asset pledges to provide special financing for projects like green methanol. CPIC Property & Casualty Insurance has developed products such as carbon asset insurance and R&D expense loss insurance to provide risk coverage for the entire green fuel process. Wu Yingyang, President of the Shanghai Green Energy Low-Carbon Science and Technology Research Institute, believes that finance needs to provide flexible funds, risk sharing, and long-term investment support. A combination of diverse financial tools will form a synergy to accelerate industrial development.
This forum consolidated a strong joint force for the green transformation of shipping. Guests unanimously agreed that the green and low-carbon transformation of shipping is a systematic project requiring coordinated efforts in policy, technology, industry, finance, and international cooperation. Shanghai, leveraging the construction of the green fuel “dual center,” is connecting the entire chain of technology R&D, production supply, bunkering trading, and certification finance, leading the wave of global green shipping transformation. In the future, with the maturation of diverse technologies, improvement of the supply chain, and deepening of ecological synergy, green shipping will transform from a vision into reality, injecting inexhaustible momentum into the achievement of global “dual carbon” goals and sustainable development.
Full Media Reporters: Wei Junyi, Huang Ling
