20 SEPT 2025
IMO responds to criticisms of its net zero strategy with the Secretary General backing the member states to approve the regulation in next month’s extraordinary meeting.
International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary General Arsenio Dominguez said he is confident that the UN body will approve the net zero framework (NZM) at next month’s extraordinary meeting at IMO’s London HQ.
Opening today’s HyWind discussion at the IMO as part of London International Shipping Week Dominguez told delegates to the Zesta’s meeting that he trusted the member states, stakeholders, the process and he said the commitment made in 2023 and reiterated in April this year leaves him in no doubt that the framework will be adopted next month.
Dominguez’s comments followed a call by ABS Chairman and CEO Chris Wiernicki on Monday for the IMO to pause its net zero framework cautioning that “Shipping and the IMO are on different trajectories.”
Wiernicki argued that there is no clear pathway for the development of the critical green fuels at scale that will be necessary to power the transition.
“LNG and biofuels are mission critical to any success [of the NZF] and should not be overlooked, over penalized or discarded in the Net Zero regulation. Quite frankly, achieving net zero for shipping by 2050 looks like a wildcard.”
Wiernicki is not alone in backing LNG and DNV Maritime CEO Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen said recently LNG is needed as a transitional fuel for the maritime sector to meet the new regulatory demands.
Related:IMO Net Zero Framework faces mounting challenges
Comments from Wiernicki on Monday come after it emerged last month that the US delegation to the IMO were attempting to strong arm individual nations to vote against the IMO regulations with threats of tariffs on nation states that fail to comply with US demands.
Nevertheless, the IMO continues to be upbeat about the prospects of next month’s crucial meeting, with Roel Hoenders, head of climate action and clean air at IMO, reacting to Wiernicki’s comments.
“There has been a lengthy and thorough process taking place within the IMO for a quite a number of years that started ahead of the IMO GHG strategy adopted in 2023 by consensus, which included the net zero target and reduction curves.”
Since 2023 the member states and industry have worked to develop the strategy that will lead to net zero supported by an impact analysis conducted by DNV.
The net zero framework will require a two thirds majority of IMO member states to vote in favour at the extraordinary MEPC meeting in October.
Kishan Muthu, head of SeaLabs, Union Maritime, believes that it is not necessary to change a strategy because of the criticism of one person.
“I believe the IMO has done a good job to date,” said Muthu, adding that “Once the IMO approves the strategy us shipowners will have clarity.”
Related:Over 180 shipping companies back IMO net zero framework
Even as senior voices are raising further concerns about the NZF and strategy Dominguez is defending the policy and the IMO member states.
“I trust the membership, that the member states, including also all the stakeholders that represent different parts of the sector in the maritime spectrum, the commitment that was made back in 2023, reiterated in April this year, and that’s why I have no doubts that we will continue to make progress, we will finalise with adoption of the amendments and move forward into the implementation phase,” said Dominguez.
Similar doubts were raised in 2011 when the Energy Efficiency Design Index was introduced and in 2018, when the initial strategy was adopted and again in five years later, in 2023, and in April this year, “there were many doubts, and we continued to respond. Because that’s what IMO does,” said Dominguez.