REPORT: Decarbonising Maritime Shipping: Regulatory Landscape
Summary
Authors:
Mehal Patni
Jil Sheth
Mercedes Maroto-Valer
John M. Andresen
Mattie Yeta
Heriot-Watt University
CGI
Decarbonising Maritime Shipping: Regulatory Landscape
March 2026
Maritime shipping accounts for approximately 3% of total global greenhouse gas emissions and at the current rate, could increase to 10% by 2050. Governments and regulators worldwide are implementing regulatory frameworks to help decarbonise the sector. This report explains the changing regulatory landscape across the IMO, EU, and UK, focusing on three main areas: optimising emissions and energy efficiency, providing infrastructure and enforcing compliance, and influencing digital solutions. The report helps maritime stakeholders to navigate the increasingly complex regulatory environment and its implications. It concludes that operators that proactively adopt compliance measures, engage with digital solutions, and invest in energy efficiency technologies can position themselves to thrive in the zero-carbon maritime sector of the future.
Associated Research
This output is delivered in collaboration with CGI and Maritime UK as highlighted in the document, as part of the ‘MaritimeTwin: Maritime Emissions Reduction Through Digital Twin and Satellite Technology Integration’ Innovate UK project. MaritimeTwin project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 6 (CMDC6), funded by UK Government through the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme in the Department for Transport.
