Key Outcomes of the 20th IMO Intersessional Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Reduction
The 20th Intersessional Working Group on GHG Reduction (ISWG-GHG 20) convened with a clear mandate: to advance the technical architecture of the IMO Net-Zero Framework in line with the 2023 IMO GHG Strategy. The session’s progress was framed by a significant strategic challenge, the one-year adjournment of the decision on the MARPOL Annex VI amendments, which created a climate of regulatory uncertainty.
Despite this delay, the Group achieved a cautious but constructive outcome, deliberately prioritising consensus on the technical ‘how’ of future regulations while deferring the more contentious political ‘what’ and ‘who pays’ questions for a later date. This strategic choice to advance the development of technical guidelines was aimed at maintaining critical momentum, providing much-needed clarity to the industry and Member States, and ensuring that future decisions by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) will be better informed.
