International shipping is the backbone of our global trading system. But it can no longer be given a free pass on climate change. If this industrial sector were a country, it would be the sixth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world — and if it doesn’t act now to reduce those emissions, by 2050 they could surpass total anticipated European emissions.

The International Maritime Organization, which sets regulatory standards for international shipping, is set to meet in London next week to consider approaches to reducing these emissions. So far, progress by the I.M.O. has been agonizingly slow, and the group’s timetable — to develop an “initial strategy” next week and a plan by 2023 — is similarly dilatory.

If the I.M.O. does not take action quickly, there is no hope of keeping the global temperature increase below the tipping points set by the Paris climate agreement. This is only possible if emissions peak by 2020 and decline rapidly thereafter. Every industrial sector, as well as country, must play its part in reaching the goal. And international shipping is the last big sector regulated by the United Nations to act.

Unfortunately, some countries that advocate the merits of climate action elsewhere are not singing from the same song sheet at the I.M.O., where talks are already underway.