Climate campaign group Opportunity Green has called on International Maritime Organization (IMO) member states to adopt the Net-Zero Framework (NZF) in its original form, warning that proposed legal amendments would significantly weaken the agreement.

The NGO's briefing to member states comes ahead of September's ISWG-GHG 22 session, where governments will make another attempt at adopting the framework. The NZF was approved at MEPC 83 in April 2025 but failed to secure adoption at an extraordinary session last October in the face of US-led opposition. The framework is the principal regulatory instrument designed to implement the IMO's 2023 GHG Strategy, which set a goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping by or around 2050. Shipping accounts for approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, giving the outcome of these negotiations significant weight for global climate efforts.

At the centre of Opportunity Green's criticism is a proposal from Liberia — one of the world's largest ship registries and therefore an influential voice among flag states at the IMO — that would replace the framework's mandatory remedial payments with greater reliance on a market-based surplus unit trading system. The NGO argues this shift would undermine incentives to invest in zero-emission fuels and reduce the flow of money into the framework's Net-Zero Fund, which is designed to support developing countries through the maritime energy transition.

Without a predictable economic incentive, the group contends, investment will continue to favour high-emitting fuels such as fossil-based LNG and biofuels over the zero-emission alternatives targeted by the IMO's 2023 GHG Strategy.

"The Net-Zero Framework is a landmark multilateral achievement after years of complex negotiations," Sapphire Ross, policy officer at Opportunity Green, said in a statement. "Governments should protect this hard-fought agreement and resist attempts to weaken the core economic elements that underpin its effectiveness."

Em Fenton, senior director at the NGO, went further, describing the NZF as "the only credible proposal on the table" and characterising any weakened alternative as "tantamount to abandoning climate vulnerable countries."

That characterisation is unlikely to be shared by the framework's critics. The United States has formally called for any successor scheme to eliminate the carbon levy and the IMO fund altogether, while Liberia's alternative has attracted support from other flag states seeking a more market-led approach.

Whether the original text can command the votes it failed to secure last October remains the central question as negotiations move toward MEPC 85, scheduled for the end of the year.

Source: Ship & Bunker