The Maritime Just Transition Task Force

Putting Seafarers at the Heart of Shipping’s Climate Transition

The purpose of the Maritime Just Transition Task Force is to ensure that shipping’s response to the climate emergency puts seafarers at the heart of the solution. The initiative is led by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), and was founded in collaboration with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Seafarers are at the core of global trade and central to the maritime industry’s transition to cleaner fuels. The Maritime Just Transition Task Force (MJTTF) champions the human element in decarbonisation. The Task Force works to strengthen collaboration among industry stakeholders, governments, NGOs, and academia. Its recent work has focused on training and safety to help the industry accelerate the uptake of zero- and near-zero-emission fuels in a responsible way.

To support this, the Maritime Just Transition Task Force (MJTTF), in collaboration with the IMO Secretariat and Lloyd’s Register Foundation, has developed a ‘Baseline Training Framework for Seafarers in Decarbonisation’. The framework, accompanied by an instructor handbook, guides maritime education and training institutions in designing programmes that prepare crews to safely operate vessels powered by fuels such as ammonia, methanol, and hydrogen – which are increasingly relevant but lack global training standards.

Decarbonisation of shipping is not only a technological transition, but also a human transition.