The global shipping industry has taken a long-awaited step towards decarbonisation. Last week, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) reached a landmark legally binding agreement establishing a carbon credit-based fuel standard to push for emissions reductions through 2050
While the deal signals a new chapter for maritime climate regulation, industriAll Europe stresses that this transformation must not come at the expense of workers, cannot be derailed by reactionary forces seeking to undermine global cooperation.
The agreement will introduce binding annual reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of ship fuels, enforced through sanctions, and financed by a global fund (IMO Net-Zero). Ships that use zero or near-zero GHG technologies will be rewarded while those that fail to meet standards will be penalised. This mechanism is expected to generate revenue for critical investments which will incentivise the scaling up clean maritime fuels, supporting developing countries, and crucially training workers to ensure a Just Transition across the sector.
IndustriAll Europe welcomes the IMO’s intent, but we remain cautious, the package as falling short of the ambition needed to truly deliver a just and equitable transition. With nearly 90% of excess emissions exempt from penalties, and the IMO’s own 2030 emissions target potentially out of reach, there is a real danger that workers will bear the costs of a delayed transition, especially in vulnerable coastal regions.
While the deal represents a fragile consensus, it has not gone unchallenged. The Trump administration walked out of the negotiations and threatened “reciprocal measures” against countries implementing a climate tariff. This is another example of the U.S. under Trump leaving the way of internation cooperation and pushing a fossil-fuel agenda that prioritises short-term profits over sustainable jobs and long-term resilience.
Trump’s attacks on global climate regulation are attacks on workers everywhere. They threaten the international cooperation needed to ensure industrial policies support both climate goals and decent work. They undermine the level playing field European industry needs and risk triggering trade wars that hurt workers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Despite its weakness, the IMO agreement is a stepping stone. It opens the door for more robust climate action and worker protections, but only if implemented fairly, transparently, and with the active involvement of workers and their unions. European shipyards and maritime industries have the tools and expertise to lead this transformation, but they need policy certainty, social dialogue, and investment in skills and green jobs.
That’s why industriAll Europe calls on all IMO member states to ensure this framework delivers for people, not just profits. There is no just transition without workers at the table.
Isabelle Barthes, Deputy General Secretary of industriAll Europe says “This agreement must be the beginning, not the end, of an active climate action in decarbonisation. We cannot let delays, or climate denial interfere with a just transition that workers and the planet urgently need. We need fair trade and strong international cooperation to deliver a Just Transition, not a race to the bottom driven by fossil-fuel nationalism. A fair maritime future means binding rules, strong enforcement, strong social dialogue and collective agreements with workers shaping the change.”
More information can be found on the website of the IMO: here