The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) and the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) have launched a five-year Impact partnership to accelerate vessel retrofits through innovative, performance-linked financing. Building upon the USD 35 million Fund for Energy Efficiency Technologies (FEET), the collaboration aims to bridge the shipping industry’s data-financing gap by tying lease payments directly to verified fuel savings.
Singapore | July 28, 2026 – In a strategic move to fast-track maritime decarbonisation through innovative financial architecture, the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) and the Development Bank of Japan Inc. (DBJ) have officially announced a five-year Impact partnership.
Unveiled today, the collaboration marries GCMD’s rigorous, real-world pilot execution capabilities with DBJ’s deep-seated expertise in transition financing and its robust global shipping portfolio. The partnership formalizes and expands a relationship already anchored by a pioneering financial framework: the USD 35 million Fund for Energy Efficiency Technologies (FEET).
Scaling the Pay-As-You-Save Model
While upgrading fleet energy efficiency stands as one of the most immediate, cost-effective pathways for curbing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, the sector has long struggled against systemic deployment barriers. Shipowners frequently encounter hurdles regarding unverified technology performance, complex methodologies for quantifying actual fuel savings, and limited access to bespoke capital.
FEET, hailed as the world’s first fund for vessel retrofits to implement a pay-as-you-save payment mechanism, directly neutralizes these friction points. By tying lease repayments directly to quantified and verified fuel savings, the structure effectively de-risks adoption for shipowners.
- Robust Pipeline: Since its formal close, FEET has curated a strong pipeline of retrofit opportunities, encompassing a diverse array of energy efficiency technologies (EETs) across multiple vessel classes and commercial market segments.
- Data-Driven Assurance: Parallel operational pilots are currently underway to harvest high-frequency, high-resolution operational data, ensuring accurate quantification of savings across an expanding spectrum of EETs.
The industry has already taken note of this novel approach. GCMD, DBJ, and their broader consortium of partners were recently honored with Marine Money’s Wild Card East Deal Award, validating an innovative financial structure that directly tackles the persistent data-financing gap long hindering wider EET adoption in shipping.
Expanding the Horizon of Transition Finance
As Japan’s national development bank and a wholly government-owned financial institution, DBJ occupies a central pillar in the nation’s broader energy transition framework. The bank maintains an aggressive mandate to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across its entire investment and loan portfolios by 2050.
Following GCMD’s earlier Knowledge partnership with the Asian Development Bank, DBJ’s onboarding as an Impact partner represents a critical escalation in GCMD’s strategy to embed top-tier financial institutions directly into its operational ecosystem.
“Decarbonising shipping is not just a technology challenge; it is also a financing and risk-allocation challenge,” noted Professor Lynn Loo, CEO of GCMD. “To scale practical solutions, we need to connect operational data and verified performance with financing structures to accelerate technology deployment. DBJ is a mission-aligned partner who brings valuable transition finance expertise to GCMD’s ecosystem.”
Echoing this sentiment, representatives from the Corporate Finance Department, Division 4 at DBJ stated: “We are pleased to join GCMD as an Impact partner and contribute to advancing practical decarbonisation solutions for the maritime industry. As a leading organisation for decarbonisation initiatives across the maritime sector, GCMD has established itself as an important platform for collaboration and knowledge-sharing among industry stakeholders.”
Comprehensive Focus Areas for Maritime Transformation
Headquartered in Singapore, the world’s premier bunkering hub and busiest transshipment port, GCMD continues to expand an ecosystem comprising over 130 centre- and project-level partners. Beyond energy efficiency financing, GCMD’s strategic blueprint focuses on four primary decarbonisation pillars:
- Shaping Standards & Assurance Frameworks: Developing verification protocols for drop-in green fuels.
- Deploying Solutions: Unlocking operational pathways for alternative marine fuels, such as enabling ammonia bunkering.
- Carbon Value Chains: Advancing onboard carbon capture technologies and mapping the commercial value chain for captured CO2.
- Closing the Data-Financing Gap: Scaling the deployment of energy efficiency technologies through asset-backed, performance-linked financial products like FEET.
With DBJ now firmly integrated as an Impact partner, the maritime sector moves one step closer to bridging the chasm between ambitious environmental goals and the hard capital required to achieve them.
About Development Bank of Japan Inc. (DJB)
Development Bank of Japan (DBJ) is a wholly government-owned financial institution in Japan, and its corporate mission is “Design the future with financial expertise.” Its ship finance team has extensive experience in the maritime industry, serving both Japanese and international clients. One of the team’s recent areas of focus is supporting maritime decarbonisation through financial solutions.
About the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD)
The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) is an international, independent action tank established on August 1, 2021, to help international shipping decarbonise through pilots and trials. Its mission is to support decarbonisation through four pillars: shaping standards, deploying solutions, financing projects, and fostering collaboration across sectors.
GCMD was founded with the support of industry partners, alongside funding from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) for qualifying research and development programmes. Since its founding, GCMD has expanded its ecosystem to include more than 130 centre- and project-level partners contributing funds, expertise, and in-kind support to pilot, accelerate the deployment, and scale the adoption of decarbonisation solutions.
GCMD has launched four key initiatives to close technical and operational gaps in: enabling ammonia as a marine fuel, developing an assurance framework for drop-in green fuels, unlocking the carbon value chain through onboard carbon capture and articulating the value chain of captured carbon dioxide, as well as closing the data-financing gap to scale the adoption of energy efficiency technologies.
GCMD is strategically located in Singapore, the world’s largest bunkering hub and busiest transshipment port.
Source: GCMD