India is emerging as a major producer and potential exporter of green ammonia, with multiple long-term offtake agreements with buyers in Germany, South Korea, and Japan secured through the first half of 2026. While primarily used as a feedstock in the fertiliser industry, green ammonia’s potential as a zero-carbon marine fuel is gaining increasing attention.
With 90 percent of global trade transported by sea, and shipping accounting for 3 percent of global CO2 emissions, decarbonising this hard-to-abate sector is critical to achieving climate goals under the Paris Agreement. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has set a net-zero target for around 2050. The 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from Ships identifies the uptake of zero- or near-zero-GHG-emission fuels as a key measure for achieving this target. This marks a major transition for a sector that has long depended on fossil fuels to power its vessels.
Analysts project that green (or e-) ammonia will emerge as the most widely adopted maritime fuel in the long term, with an average share of 35 percent of the shipping fuels market by 2050. However, it poses certain safety and emissions challenges that must be addressed to ensure its adoption as a genuinely sustainable alternative.
Figure 1: Fuel-Mix Projections in Shipping
*HFO/VLSFO – Heavy fuel oil/very low sulfur fuel oil
Source: International Renewable Energy Agency
This article examines the potential of green ammonia as an alternative shipping fuel and the regulatory readiness to address the safety and emissions considerations, arguing that India must develop robust domestic regulations to ensure its investments in green ammonia production and maritime infrastructure are future-proof.
India must develop robust domestic regulations to ensure its investments in green ammonia production and maritime infrastructure are future-proof.
India’s Green Ammonia Landscape
Ammonia’s conventional production uses the Haber-Bosch process, where nitrogen from the air is combined with hydrogen under extremely high pressures and moderately high temperatures. This process is energy-intensive and accounts for approximately 1.3 percent of global CO₂ emissions. To prevent emissions from simply shifting up the supply chain, green ammonia uses renewable electricity to produce hydrogen through water electrolysis and to power the Haber-Bosch process.
Figure 2: Green Ammonia Production Process
Source: Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering
In February 2026, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) introduced the standard for green ammonia, limiting total lifecycle GHG emissions—from production to storage—to 0.38 kg of CO2 equivalent per kg of ammonia, averaged over the preceding 12-month period.
India’s policy measures seek to promote the integration of green fuels into the maritime sector, which carries 95 percent of the country’s trade by volume. The Harit Sagar Green Port Guidelines (2023) encourage ports to retrofit port crafts to operate on cleaner fuels, including green ammonia, and state that all major ports must establish green ammonia bunkering and refuelling facilities by 2035.
To catalyse industrial participation and attract investments in green hydrogen and its derived fuels including green ammonia, several major ports have been identified as ‘Green Hydrogen Hubs’ under the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM). These include the Paradip Port, where a jetty with allied facilities handling up to 4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of green hydrogen and green ammonia is under development; the V.O. Chidambaranar Port, which has allocated 205.72 acres for green hydrogen and ammonia projects; and the Deendayal Port Authority, which has commissioned a 1 megawatt (MW) green hydrogen plant and developed a 3.5 mtpa jetty compatible with green ammonia handling.
Private players are also scaling up green ammonia production for export: India’s AM Green signed a long-term offtake agreement with Germany’s Uniper to supply 500 kilotons per annum (ktpa) of green ammonia, while Reliance Industries Limited is set to supply green ammonia to South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corporation over 15 years, starting in 2029. Most recently, in April 2026, India’s Larsen and Toubro signed a long-term agreement to supply 300 ktpa of green ammonia to support ITOCHU’s green bunkering applications.
Together, the policy measures, investments in port infrastructure and growing private participation indicate India’s growing efforts to position itself in the emerging green ammonia value chain and prepare the maritime sector for its adoption as a shipping fuel.
The Emissions and Safety Challenge
While green ammonia offers several benefits such as low flammability, rendering it less prone to explosion, the ability to be stored in liquid form suitable for long routes, and established handling experience in the fertiliser industry, it also poses notable emissions and safety risks.
Due to its highly toxic and corrosive properties, it can be hazardous to maritime workers if leaked onboard, during handling, or through the exhaust, and can cause severe burns to skin, eyes, and the respiratory tract. It can also be acutely toxic to marine life, damaging aquatic organisms’ tissues, exoskeletons, and even their central nervous systems, leading to convulsions or death.
Ammonia combustion itself does not produce CO₂; however, in practice, a pilot fuel is required to achieve stable combustion in marine engines. Diesel typically accounts for 5–10 percent of the fuel mix, resulting in some CO₂ emissions.
Additionally, ammonia combustion generates nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent GHG with a global warming potential approximately 273 times greater than that of CO₂ over 100 years. It also produces nitrogen oxides (NOx), which can contribute to the formation of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), acid rain, and smog with adverse impacts on human health.
A 2026 study estimates that, for the same energy output, total reactive nitrogen emissions—including NOx, N2O and ammonia—could range from approximately 66 percent below to 185 percent above those from conventional marine fuel oil. The variation depends largely on ammonia leakage rates and engine-specific emission factors.
This underscores the need for regulations on vessel design, engine certification and emissions monitoring to ensure that ammonia leakage and associated emissions do not undermine the climate benefits of green ammonia.
IMO Standards
The IMO’s International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Annex VI sets limitations on NOx emissions from marine diesel engines with a power output of more than 130 kW. The limits are structured into three tiers, and compliance is verified through the NOx Technical Code 2008, which specifies test cycles and weighting factors for different engine applications.
Since the existing procedures were primarily developed for conventional carbon-emitting fuels, the IMO, in February 2026, agreed on amendments to the NOx Technical Code to adapt testing and measurement procedures for engines using low- or zero-carbon fuels such as ammonia and hydrogen, with a view to subsequent adoption.
While the IMO does not establish specific limits for N2O emissions from marine engines, the Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) guidelines provide for covering N2O when calculating a fuel’s total lifecycle GHG intensity. These emissions would be strictly regulated under the IMO Net-Zero Framework, which will apply to ships of over 5,000 gross tonnage and will include a pricing mechanism for emissions above specified thresholds. It has not yet been formally adopted, with negotiations expected to resume around December 2026.
Additionally, in May 2026, guidelines specifying test-bed and onboard measurement, documentation, and verification of N2O were adopted, providing the basis for determining compliance with the Net-Zero Framework and supporting implementation of the LCA guidelines.
On safety, the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) approved two sets of detailed interim guidelines covering functional requirements on the design, installation, and monitoring of ammonia-fuel systems, and on seafarer training on ammonia-specific hazards, operational risks, and emergency response.
While these non-binding guidelines provide an important framework for addressing the safety and emissions risks associated with the use of green ammonia, their effective implementation ultimately depends on national administrations translating them into domestic regulatory and operational requirements.
India’s Regulatory Landscape
India is developing a regulatory framework for ammonia as a marine fuel, but it has yet to comprehensively translate international guidance into fuel-specific requirements.
India has implemented MARPOL Annex VI through the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) Rules, 2026, which incorporate the applicable tier standards and require specified engines operating within designated Emission Control Areas to meet the more stringent Tier III limits.
India is developing a regulatory framework for ammonia as a marine fuel, but it has yet to comprehensively translate international guidance into fuel-specific requirements.
However, like the underlying MARPOL framework, it does not establish specific emission limits or certification standards for N2O emissions from ammonia-fuelled engines. India is also yet to incorporate the IMO guidelines on the measurement, documentation, and verification of N2O emissions, or the interim guidelines on the safety of ships and training of seafarers using this fuel.
Additionally, while the Merchant Shipping (Use of Liquefied Gases as Fuel Appliances) Rules, 2026 provide detailed requirements for natural gas, ammonia-fuelled systems rely on alternative-design approval demonstrating an equivalent level of safety, with no specific technical requirements covering fuel containment and supply, leak detection and ventilation, toxic-area management, and emergency response.
Without greater regulatory clarity, financial assistance for pilot projects under the NGHM involving the indigenous development and retrofitting of vessels using green ammonia-based propulsion will see limited uptake. India has already established dedicated LNG (liquefied natural gas) and biofuel bunkering frameworks covering safety, operational, and regulatory requirements, and a similarly tailored framework is required for ammonia, given its toxicity, handling, and combustion characteristics.
India is pushing to develop green ammonia production, bunkering infrastructure and ammonia-fuelled vessels. However, equal emphasis is needed on establishing a regulatory framework for safe storage, emissions monitoring, certification, crew competence and emergency preparedness to ensure that safety and sustainability are embedded in the commercial deployment of green ammonia.
Pranita Gupta is a Research Assistant with the Observer Research Foundation’s (ORF) Centre for Economy and Growth.
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