A draft agreement on raising the International Maritime Organization’s future decarbonisation targets has not fully committed the regulator to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2050.

Full decarbonisation by that date is viewed as necessary to keep shipping in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The document, which will be put forward for negotiation and then approval by governments at the IMO next week, proposes raising the regulator’s ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions “as soon as possible or by 2050 at the latest”.