WE all know that the shipping industry needs to decarbonise, now the industry is finally confronting the detail.

Countries meeting at the IMO next week have five plans for carbon price policies in front of them.

Small island states and the International Chamber of Shipping are pushing for carbon levies. Norway and European Union members prefer a cap-and-trade scheme, and China and Japan have each proposed more complex rebates.

This is not a simple choice and the big votes are still years away.

The sluggish, somewhat secretive IMO is set to tackle fundamental questions in coming years, including how to measure emissions cuts, and how steep the curve to zero-emissions shipping should be.

But increasing convergence among member states on the need for a market-based measure, and the job such a measure needs to do, represents a big step forward.

Joining us to distil the future of decarbonisation this week are:

• Tristan Smith, the director of University Maritime Advisory Services

• Edmund Hughes, a consultant and former IMO emissions chief

• Mads Peter Zacho, head of industry transition at the Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping