Private Sector Launches COP31 Supply Commitment to 4X SZEF Production for the Maritime Sector

The maritime shipping sector is at a pivotal moment for global decarbonization, facing a 2030 timeline for achieving both the Maritime Breakthrough Goal of using at least 5% — striving for 10% — of scalable net-zero fuels (SZEF) for shipping by 2030, and the Belém pledge to quadruple the use of sustainable fuels by 2035.

The benefits of achieving both targets reach beyond shipping and COP31: scaling up sustainable fuels accelerates the wider energy transition and gives other hard-to-abate sectors a pathway to move away from fossil fuels, while supporting positive impacts for coastal ecosystem resilience, ocean health, sustainability, and connectivity across transport modes.

A year on from Belém, we see supporting the quadrupling sustainable fuels pledge as an opportunity to accelerate economic development and emissions reductions and increase energy security. That’s why we are proud to have led a maritime sector ambition statement committing to support quadrupling the production SZEF in support of the Belem sustainable fuels pledge and the 2030 Maritime Breakthrough Goal. This statement was launched at COP31 as part of a Global Climate Action Agenda event on Belém Pledge progress year-to-date.

Launching in partnership with fellow signatories, we call for renewed collaboration between supply and demand actors, and the public and private sectors, and for deepened international cooperation to ensure we take the necessary actions to quadruple sustainable fuels production by 2035, in line with the Belém 4X Pledge on Sustainable Fuels. Our ambition is to support the development needed SZEF to hit both the Belém target and the maritime breakthrough goal target for sustainable fuels uptake.

We believe we achieve this through supporting the private sector, policymakers, and fellow nongovernmental organizations in boosting bankable supply-side projects, driving demand activation for low-carbon products, and educating our communities on the climate, energy security, and economic benefits of energy transition.

We thank the Marrakech Partnership for Global Climate Action (MPGCA) maritime stakeholder community and the Global Climate Action Agenda maritime initiatives for sustained interest, ambition, and efforts in delivering this statement.

Additional supporters of this statement are welcome at any time. Organizations interested in learning more can contact maritimepolicy@rmi.org for more information.

View the COP31 Supply Commitment to 4X SZEF Production for the Maritime Sector.