The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub (Decarb Hub) have published Navigating the Net-Zero Transition.
This report addresses the trillion-dollar investment gap threatening maritime sector climate goals.
Based on two years of research and over 40 interviews, the report warns that without sufficient funding, shipping emissions could rise to 130 per cent of 2008 levels by 2050.
Maritime shipping carries nearly 80 per cent of global trade and is the sixth largest GHG gas emitter worldwide, making decarbonisation a major challenge due to high capital expenditure in ships and fuel infrastructure.
While the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has approved a framework to price emissions, progress risks stalling without strong financial support.
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The report highlights a disconnect between investors’ climate ambitions and shipping’s realities, noting financiers’ caution and the high costs of scaling zero- and near-zero emission fuel projects, which can require up to $2 billion in infrastructure investment.
It proposes three concepts to unlock investment by reducing project risk, improving access to capital, and demonstrating broader benefits:
- Maritime Multiplier: A carbon accounting tool quantifying supply-chain emissions reductions from cleaner ships.
- Lending Platform for Energy Efficiency: A blended-finance platform pooling retrofit projects to lower risk and expand affordable capital access, especially for smaller shipowners.
- Time Stacked Offtake (TSO): A flexible clean fuel contracting model breaking long-term agreements into shorter tranches, offering revenue certainty to fuel developers and flexibility to buyers.
Dana Rodriguez, Programme Manager at The Decarb Hub and report co-author, said: “These challenges are evident in the lack of communication between shipping and infrastructure finance, despite their interdependence. To overcome this, fuel procurement strategies must evolve, and bold collaboration across the maritime value chain is critical.
“Silos are holding back shipping’s transition. Finance and shipping must meet in the middle to deliver a sustainable and affordable transition.”
