MEPC84: support for Net Zero Framework stabilizes ahead of key decision point in late 2026
By on May 12, 2026
“Pendulum swings back”, but path forward remains uncertain
Click to learn more about the outcomes of MEPC 84 in London this April.
The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) has concluded its latest meeting in London, with positive momentum swings towards adopting the Net Zero Framework (NZF) later this year, plus a raft of interesting policy outcomes. MEPC is scheduled to resume its Second Extraordinary Session – and make a further decision on adoption of the NZF, following a postponement last year – on 4 December 2026, with its next formal meeting (“MEPC 85”) from 30 November to 3 December.
We are back on track, but we have to rebuild trust. I encourage you to maintain this momentum through your intersessional work and to prepare submissions that can bring the membership together.
IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez, in his organisation’s official press release, 1 May 2026
Two “inter-sessional meetings” to work through various roadblocks will be scheduled ahead of MEPC 85 (early September and late November), as well as a one-day summit on chain of custody certification: “tracking fuel origin and movement of fuels across the supply chain, ensuring emissions are properly traced and verified” (an approach enabled and supported by the AEA’s Ammonia Certification System). Also decided at MEPC 84:
- a new Emission Control Area (ECA) in the North-East Atlantic, introducing stricter emission limits on nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulphur oxides (SOX) and particulate matter, which any new ammonia-fueled vessels will have to comply with.
- approved draft amendments to the 2008 NOX Technical Code for non-carbon containing fuels.
- and approved Terms of Reference for the Fifth IMO GHG Study, which produces important outcomes that feed into marine fuel certification.
Click to expand. Member state stance on the way forward post-MEPC 84 (NZF as agreed, alternative proposal, no stance recorded). Source: UCL Shipping and Oceans Research Group.
Analysing the stance of IMO member countries at MEPC 84, the University College London’s Shipping and Oceans Research group reports that the majority of member states now accept the NZF (as originally agreed to in early 2025) as the basis for moving forward, “reversing” the simple majority that voted to adjourn discussion altogether of the NZF in late 2025. Alternative proposals to the NZF were presented in London and “did not gather significant support”. However, the fluidity around a portion of the member state’s positions still remains, and when the pressure returns in late 2026 to make decisions about the NZF, it is uncertain what the outcome will be.
MEPC 84 was a refreshing return to IMO’s normal meeting style, the pressure to reach a conclusion was not there, but for the opponents of meaningful and effective IMO GHG regulation, this was an opportunity for them to finish what they started at MEPC.ES2. Their failure to do so is critical for shipping and trade’s future success, as well as multilateralism’s future and for the chances of an equitable energy transition.
Tristan Smith, Professor of Energy and Transport at UCL Shipping and Oceans Research Group, in his organisation’s official press release, 1 May 2026