COP29: Shipping giants demand stricter policies to drive green fuel adoption
More than 50 shipping-focussed companies have urged the IMO and regional governments for urgent policy action to accelerate the adoption of green bunker fuels.
PHOTO: Port of Antwerp-Bruges. Getty Images
Signatories of the “Call to Action” include Australian mining giant Fortescue, bunker suppliers Bunker Holding and Trafigura, shipping companies Ocean Network Express, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, North Sea Container Lines, engine manufacturer Winterthur Gas & Diesel (WinGD), and the ports of Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp, among others.
The signatories emphasised the need for the global shipping regulator to adopt technical and economic mid-term measures by 2025 and implement them by 2027.
The proposed technical measure should include a GHG intensity fuel standard calculated on a well-to-wake basis, aligned with the IMO’s 2023 GHG reduction targets, and paired with a “strong penalty” for non-compliance, the letter read.
As part of the economic measures, the IMO and its member states must adopt a “universal and sufficiently priced” GHG levy such as $100–150/mt of CO₂ equivalent on a well-to-wake basis.
“The key specifications of measures affecting investment decision-making must be clear in 2025 and not postponed to guidelines developed in 2026,” the group stressed.
The letter also recommended rewarding the uptake of low- and zero-emission bunker fuel and prioritising the distribution of revenues to support these initiatives.
It urged regional governments to “align supply-side policy incentives with demand policies and ensure access to these for maritime actors, including mechanisms to provide long-term price certainty for producers while reducing risk for offtakers.”
Finally, the group called for alignment of regional and global well-to-wake GHG reduction strategies and accounting frameworks.
By Konica Bhatt
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