Media Advisory: Landmark Court Rulings Require IMO to Close LNG's Emissions-Accounting Loophole, Legal Brief Finds
CEMDA and Maritime Beyond Methane release analysis as IMO heads into decisive Net-Zero Framework talks this fall, with a December vote on how LNG's emissions will be counted.
London, July 9, 2026 — The Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA) and Maritime Beyond Methane (MARBEM) released a new legal brief concluding that recent advisory opinions from the world's highest international courts require governments to account for the full climate impact of liquefied natural gas (LNG), including methane emissions released before the fuel reaches ships. The analysis comes as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) prepares to finalize its Net-Zero Framework within the last semester of this year.
The brief analyzes the 2025 Advisory Opinions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), concluding that together they establish two key obligations for governments:
States must not promote LNG production or consumption through subsidies, financing, or enabling infrastructure, and
States must regulate LNG's greenhouse gas emissions across its full Well-to-Tank life cycle (covering production and transport, not just onboard combustion), including emissions from private actors.
That second obligation is critical on the IMO's negotiating table. At MEPC 84 in London in late April, a majority of member states reaffirmed support for the Net-Zero Framework despite continued opposition from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other producer states, several of which have pushed to protect LNG's role in shipping's fuel mix. Adoption of the framework — and the Well-to-Tank default emissions factor that will determine how LNG is scored — is now expected in December.
The brief recommends that IMO member states ensure the Well-to-Tank default factor captures LNG's full life-cycle emissions, including upstream methane leakage, rather than a methodology that favors particular supplier basins or under-counts methane slip. Methane, LNG's primary component, is roughly 82.5 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. The global LNG-fueled fleet stands at 1,568 vessels in service, with a further 1,024 on order — representing 35% of gross tonnage in the current global newbuild orderbook. With LNG-fueled tonnage continuing to expand at that pace, the emissions-accounting method the IMO adopts this year will apply to an increasingly large share of the global fleet.
The full brief, “The ICJ Advisory Opinion on State Obligations in Relation to Methane and Maritime Fuel,” is available at: https://www.marbem.org/resources/icj-advisory-opinion-lng
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Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA) is an environmental civil society organization in Mexico working to ensure the effective enforcement of the country's environmental legal system.
Maritime Beyond Methane (MARBEM) is a global initiative accelerating the shipping industry's transition beyond methane-based fuels (fossil, bio-, and e-LNG), equipping policymakers, financiers, and industry leaders with the data and practical pathways needed to advance a future-ready shipping industry.
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MARBEM Secretariat: media@marbem.org
