Remedial units under the IMO Net-Zero Framework

Remedial units are the compliance units a ship buys from the IMO Net-Zero Fund to balance a GHG fuel intensity deficit under draft regulation 36 of a new MARPOL Annex VI Chapter 5. The draft prices them for reporting periods 2028 to 2030 at USD 100 per tonne CO2eq for a Tier 1 deficit and USD 380 per tonne CO2eq for a Tier 2 deficit, paid as GHG emissions pricing contributions to the Fund. The text was approved at MEPC 83 in April 2025 and has not been adopted.

A Tier 1 deficit, the gap between the direct compliance target and the lower of the attained GFI and the base target, is balanced only through Tier 1 remedial unit s. A Tier 2 deficit, the excess of the attained GFI over the base target, can also be covered by surplus units transferred from other ships or banked from earlier periods. The Committee is to set the price review mechanism for 2031 onward by 1 January 2028.

The full article will cover the deficit arithmetic, the price-setting and review mechanism, the flow of contributions into the Fund, and how remedial unit costs are being allocated between owners and charterers. The targets that create the deficits are in the GFI reduction trajectory .