Renewable and low-carbon methanol project pipeline reaches 61.8 Mt by 2031, growth slows as IMO decision delayed

GENA Solutions' June 2026 update shows the global pipeline for renewable and low-carbon methanol projects now totals 61.8 million tonnes of capacity by 2031, up from 61.6 Mt. The Methanol Institute shared the data to help the maritime industry plan for methanol as a mainstream marine fuel ahead of IMO 2030 and 2050 targets. The pipeline includes 24.7 Mt of e-methanol, 25.9 Mt of biomethanol, and 11.2 Mt of low-carbon methanol across 284 projects. Growth has slowed to about 0.7 Mt per month in 2026, down from 1.1 Mt per month in 2025. The delay in adopting the IMO Net Zero Framework is a key reason for the slowdown. Two-thirds of recent growth came from methanol-to-jet projects, which now total 36 globally with over 9 Mt of cumulative methanol consumption. The data is meant to help the maritime industry plan for methanol as a mainstream marine fuel ahead of IMO 2030 and 2050 targets.