Sources reported that financing the maritime energy transition will require substantial investment in projects that are both scalable and bankable, together with strengthened human capacity across developing States, including small island developing States and least developed countries. (hellenicshippingnews.com)
The article, published on 12 November 2026, summarised a session of the IMO Future Fuels and Technology Project held in Busan on 29 October, which focused on maritime infrastructure and deployment from supply to delivery. The session highlighted gaps in finance and the need to prepare projects for investment so they can support a shift towards zero emission shipping in line with the IMO’s GHG Strategy. (hellenicshippingnews.com)
FINSMART+ and GHG-SMART were presented as central initiatives to bridge those gaps. FINSMART+ is described as a new GEF project executed by IMO with the EBRD and World Bank Group to advance maritime decarbonisation projects, guiding national pilots and feasibility studies towards investment readiness. GHG-SMART is providing capacity development in climate finance and project development while compiling a first-of-its-kind study on climate finance flows for the maritime sector. (hellenicshippingnews.com)
Delegates at the Busan session, involving governments, financial institutions and industry, emphasised that many developing States lack the administrative and technical resources to prepare bankable proposals. The reports summary noted that closing the financing gap will require maritime administrations to integrate maritime priorities into national climate and investment plans and to aggregate demand regionally where possible. (hellenicshippingnews.com)
The International Maritime organisation’s 2023 revised GHG Strategy sets the wider policy context for these efforts, with an enhanced ambition to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping by or around 2050. That strategy also calls for early uptake of zero or near-zero fuels and technologies and establishes indicative checkpoints for 2030 and 2040. (imo.org)
Readiness and bankability
Speakers argued that technical cooperation must move beyond pilot projects to create investible propositions, focusing on measurable returns and clear risk allocation. For small island developing States and least developed countries, regional aggregation of demand was flagged as essential to achieve economies of scale and attract financiers. (hellenicshippingnews.com)
Capacity building and information gaps
The Busan session also highlighted the importance of building skills within maritime administrations so they can design projects that meet investor requirements, and of improving data availability to reduce perceived project risk. The GHG-SMART study, once finalised, is expected to inform efforts to enhance access to finance by mapping existing flows and identifying opportunities. (hellenicshippingnews.com)
The report stressed that coordinated technical cooperation and donor-backed instruments will be required to translate the IMO ambition into financed, deliverable projects that enable a just transition. The reports item closed by noting the breadth of stakeholders at the Busan event and the emphasis on practical measures to move from supply concepts to deployment. (hellenicshippingnews.com)