This paper examines how technological innovation can lead to stringent international environmental regulation. It introduces the explanatory concept of technological arguing to the study of business actors in global environmental politics. The starting point of technological arguing is the observation that technology and innovation are frequently contested. Technological arguing refers to the deliberation of competing arguments about the state of technology and the room that innovation provides for regulatory action. Power in technological arguing results from corporate expertise and credible references to existing or emerging business practices. The paper empirically probes the explanatory power of technological arguing against neo-Gramscian and neo-pluralist approaches. It examines the development of new nutrient removal standards for discharges of sewage from ships into the Baltic Sea by the Helsinki Commission and International Maritime Organization. The findings of the paper suggest that technological arguing forms a distinct causal mechanism in regulatory policy-making.