In the global effort to reduce Green House Gases and carbon emissions, there is great importance for the shipping industry to decarbonise and move forward into a greener future. However, there is a lack of academic commentary on how attempts at various decarbonisation methods reported in research articles have developed over the 21st century, particularly in line with the relevant policy and regulatory developments. This paper analyses how the shipping industry has decarbonised by utilising 294 papers from 2000 to 2020. By analysing 20 years’ worth of research, this paper delivers a comprehensive review of shipping decarbonisation research and analyses the evolution of its themes as a function of time. It therefore aids to develop a greater understanding and comparison of governmental, economic and academic perspectives (and their potential alignment) for the industry to decarbonise. For 2017–20 the key shipping decarbonisation technologies were summarised and their advantages, disadvantages and current academic literature applications are revealed. Furthermore, the analysis of the evolution of shipping decarbonisation research themes reveals clear research gaps in the current literature and guides the development of a future research agenda with the prediction of future opportunities and potential for shipping decarbonisation research developments for the shipping industry.