Cyprus joins four-day IMO talks on global shipping emissions rules

London, United Kingdom. Cyprus enters a four-day round of International Maritime Organisation negotiations on Tuesday as member states seek agreement on global shipping emissions rules, penalties for non-compliance and a proposed Net-Zero Fund.

The talks place Cyprus, one of Europe’s leading maritime states, at the centre of a dispute that divided the European Union last year.

Previous IMO vote

Cyprus and Greece abstained in October 2025 when the IMO’s extraordinary environmental session voted to postpone for one year the formal adoption of the Net-Zero Framework. The framework had been approved in April but was not adopted, leaving its future open to further negotiations.

The Shipping Deputy Ministry said Cyprus had sought to create space for a broader agreement and supported an IMO framework that was both ambitious and workable. It said a measure backed by a narrow majority could be difficult to implement and could encourage additional regional rules.

Support for global rules

The Cyprus Shipping Chamber has also supported a global agreement, warning that fragmented regional requirements would raise costs and weaken competitiveness. The chamber has said that only global rules can decarbonise a global industry.

Negotiating timetable

The 22nd session of the IMO working group on greenhouse gas emissions, ISWG-GHG 22, runs from September 1 to 4. It is the first of two negotiating rounds intended to narrow differences before the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee meets later this year.

A second working-group session is scheduled for November 23 to 27, followed by MEPC 85 from November 30 to December 3. The extraordinary session postponed last year is expected to resume on December 4, subject to confirmation.

Proposed framework

The London talks are not expected to settle the issue but will indicate whether an agreement in December remains possible. The IMO said in May that nearly 100 delegations had set out their positions, with secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez saying the organisation was “back on track” while still needing to “rebuild trust”.

The framework would establish the first global system combining mandatory limits on the greenhouse gas intensity of marine fuels with a pricing mechanism for ships that do not meet them.

It would apply to oceangoing vessels above 5,000 gross tonnage, which account for more than 85 per cent of emissions from international shipping.