The Isle of Man Ship Registry has become the first flag state to join the Getting to Zero Coalition, an industry-led alliance working towards decarbonising the international maritime shipping sector.

Established in 2019, the Coalition is a partnership between the Global Maritime Forum, the Friends of Ocean Action and the World Economic Forum. Its members include more than 120 organisations from the maritime, energy, infrastructure and finance sectors.

The Coalition says the development and deployment of commercially viable, deep-sea zero-emission vessels by 2030 is key to achieving the International Maritime Organisation’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping by at least 50 per cent by 2050 compared to 2008 levels.

The Isle of Man Ship Registry is one of the world’s leading registers of ships and super yachts. It believes flag states have an important role to play in promoting green shipping and helping the industry meet IMO environmental targets.

Cameron Mitchell, Director of the Isle of Man Ship Registry, said: “It is our collective responsibility to respond to the climate emergency by taking action to effect real change for the benefit of our environment and industry. The Getting to Zero Coalition brings together a diverse range of organisations and we are looking forward to working closely with them to help make commercially viable, zero-emission vessels a scalable reality.”

Mitchell added: “As a flag state we work in partnership with shipping lines, classification societies and shipyards around the world to ensure compliance with IMO rules. Our expertise, experience and existing relationships with key sector organisations mean we are well placed to champion the Getting to Zero message and support exciting new initiatives to decarbonise shipping.”

Johannah Christensen, Managing Director, Head of Projects & Programmes, Global Maritime Forum, a Partner of the Getting to Zero Coalition said:

“The coming decade will be decisive for the future of global seaborne trade. We look forward to working together with the Isle of Man Ship Registry to deliver on our common vision of decarbonized shipping.”

The Isle of Man Ship Registry is ranked 17 in the world by Clarksons in terms of tonnage with around 14 million gross tonnes, 400 ships and 11,000 seafarers under its flag. The Registry has held top spot on the Paris MoU Port State Control whitelist and is firmly on the whitelist in the Tokyo MoU rankings. It is also one of the high-performing flags on the US Coast Guard’s Qualship 21 scheme.