“Climate change is a reality that we are experiencing with ever-increasing intensity. The growing frequency of extreme weather events makes the substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions an urgent matter of both individual and collective responsibility. The goal of decarbonisation is clear and shared.

As an industry, we recognise the role we have to play in practice and remain firmly committed to making a meaningful contribution towards this goal. We are systematically investing in energy efficiency, new technologies, steadily reducing the carbon intensity of the sector’s emissions.

Ambitious targets, however, need to remain realistic, and go hand in hand with solutions that reflect technological capabilities and the realities of the global market. Otherwise, we risk placing an undue burden on economies and societies without delivering the desired environmental benefits. Throughout that journey, the shipping industry supports that, we need a single, functional and truly workable global framework, adopted by the industry’s international regulatory body, the IMO.

The course of the negotiations to date, however, has revealed significant weaknesses in the proposed IMO Net-Zero Framework, which clearly is not the solution. It is critical that the voice of shipping, the sector that will be called to implement these measures, is meaningfully heard. The green transition of shipping cannot succeed without the actual involvement of the industry.

In this context, the approach suggested by Panama and Liberia, while leaving room for further improvement, provides a balanced and pragmatic foundation for continuing the international dialogue. It takes into account critical parameters, such as the affordability, availability and scalability of the required fuels. The importance of these parameters in determining shipping’s decarbonisation pathway is also acknowledged in Japan’s proposal.

It is equally important that the Panama and Liberia proposal also recognises the crucial role of ship energy efficiency and its contribution to reducing emissions, a factor of particular importance while suitable fuels are either not available at all or only at excessive prices.

Shipping is vital to the functioning of the world. Every day, every hour, every minute, it connects the entire planet. That is why decisions concerning its green transition are of global significance.

We therefore call on IMO Member States to heed the voice of the industry for a global solution that will secure the necessary international consensus and combine environmental effectiveness, economic viability and social fairness.

The goal is one: meaningful decarbonisation. Because progress is ultimately defined by what can be achieved in practice,always guided by the common good, not by what is planned in theory.”