During the Global Sustainable Transport Forum (2026), the International Green Shipping Corridor Alliance was officially inaugurated.
During the Global Sustainable Transport Forum (2026), the International Green Shipping Corridor Alliance was officially inaugurated. Co-founded by the China International Sustainable Transportation Innovation and Knowledge Centre alongside COSCO Shipping Group, CMA CGM Group, China Energy Engineering Group, and Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), the Alliance represents the world's first non-governmental international organisation grounded in international green shipping corridor cooperation.
The Alliance's inaugural General Assembly was held concurrently in Beijing. Li Xinghu, Vice Minister of Transport, attended and delivered remarks at the assembly, while Fu Xuyin, former Vice Minister of Transport, was elected as the Alliance's first Chairman of the Board.
The Alliance is positioned to establish an international platform for green shipping cooperation, advancing sustainable development across the maritime industry and contributing to the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Its founding membership currently encompasses 45 leading enterprises from 12 countries, with business operations spanning the full upstream and downstream green shipping industrial chain - reflecting a distinctly diverse and international character.
The Alliance will coordinate and advance cooperation in international green shipping corridor development, promote alignment between domestic regulations and international standards across green vessels, green fuels, and green ports, and accelerate the establishment of an international certification framework for green marine fuels. Additional priorities include coordinating the implementation of transport facilitation measures, developing internationally recognised demonstration projects, and advancing technology research and development, results commercialisation, and capacity building - with the overarching goal of becoming a new platform that drives innovation and transformation across the global shipping industry.
Green shipping corridors, in essence, are zero-emission maritime routes established between major hub ports. The global shipping industry carries more than 80% of world trade by volume, accounting for approximately 3% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions - and both the international community and the industry itself are actively pursuing decarbonisation and green transition. In November 2021, on the sidelines of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 22 nations signed the Clydebank Declaration for Green Shipping Corridors, committing to the establishment of at least six green shipping corridors by 2025.
Shanghai Port has previously partnered with the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Hamburg, and others in building green shipping corridors. However, earlier corridor initiatives have largely remained confined to port-to-port memoranda of understanding, lacking an international platform capable of connecting the full spectrum of stakeholders. The establishment of this Alliance is positioned to fill that gap.
From an industry perspective, the founding of the Alliance marks a pivotal shift in green shipping corridor development - from bilateral cooperation to multilateral coordination. By integrating the resources of shipping companies, port operators, energy enterprises, and research institutions, the Alliance is well placed to build collective momentum in the areas of green fuel standard-setting, cross-border certification mutual recognition, and infrastructure investment, thereby reducing the cost and risk borne by individual enterprises as they pursue green transition.
For China's maritime industry, participation in the Alliance's founding is set to strengthen the country's voice in shaping global green shipping regulations, and to advance the international market presence of Chinese green vessel technologies, green fuel products, and port service standards. For cargo owners and freight forwarders, the gradual realisation of green shipping corridors will introduce a wider range of low-carbon routing options - though equal attention must be directed to the impact of green premiums on logistics costs, and to early assessment of supply chain carbon footprint management requirements, in order to adapt to the long-term trajectory of the industry's low-carbon transition.
