Up to 800,000 seafarers will require training by the mid-2030s to handle alternative fuels that can reach shipping’s decarbonisation goals, according to plans launched at COP27.

The Maritime Just Transition Task Force, involving shipowners, unions and the United Nations, has set out a 10-point action plan highlighting the additional training needed to handle new green fuels up to 2050.

The report, launched at the climate change talks in Egypt, stresses an immediate need to start setting up the training infrastructure to ensure hundreds of thousands of the world’s nearly 2m seafarers are upskilled.