Offshore renewables: European Parliament position does not align with EU environmental law

Posted on February, 16 2022

Plenary vote puts EU shift to climate-neutral energy on course to conflict with EU Biodiversity Strategy and protected areas

Last night, the European Parliament adopted its response to the European Commission’s offshore renewables Strategy. This non-legislative response is out of step with the European Green Deal’s ambitions for a sustainable blue economy and nature conservation.

The Parliament has failed to align with the EU requirement for Member States to adopt an ecosystem-based approach (EBA) to planning their maritime activities, including offshore renewable energy – a requirement in both the EU Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSPD) and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSPD).

An EBA views maritime spaces as integrated systems that provide various resources and services to both people and nature, and acknowledges that ecosystems have a limited capacity to remain healthy against human pressures.[1] As part of achieving climate neutrality as per the European Green Deal, the European Commission is planning to increase offshore renewable energy capacity by 500% and 2500% by 2030 and 2050, respectively, in comparison to 2020 levels.[2] This increased deployment of offshore renewable energy must not be done at the expense of nature: an EBA helps Member States better balance the ecological and socio-economic objectives of the MSPD and European Green Deal.

Helena Rodrigues, Ocean Policy Officer at the WWF European Policy Office said, “The Parliament has sent a tone deaf signal to EU citizens today, failing to adopt an integrated and holistic approach to climate action. How we plan for the continuation and development of new activities in our seas plays an integral role in addressing the climate crisis and our economic recovery from Covid-19. The shift to climate neutral energy production must go hand-in-hand with restoration and protection of marine ecosystems, especially those which store carbon.”

Not only does the report fail to mention having an EBA to plan renewable energy activities in EU waters, it includes no call on the European Commission for guidance on how increasing offshore renewable energy capacity can be developed in line with the targets of EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy.

Further, the European Parliament has failed on several other points WWF has been advocating for. For example, it did not adopt a position on preventing offshore energy development in sensitive areas such as marine Natura 2000 sites or other areas valuable for the conservation of marine biological resources, including fish spawning grounds which fisheries depend on.

It is particularly short-sighted that the report also makes no mention of conserving coastal and marine habitats that store and remove carbon. Blue carbon ecosystems are estimated to be responsible for 55% of the world’s biological carbon fixation.[3] With the world’s largest sea area, the Parliament’s omission of the importance of preserving blue carbon in the EU is all but incomprehensible in the face of the climate crisis.

What’s more, WWF has repeatedly called for the EU to implement a clear strategy to minimise impacts of offshore renewables on ecologically valuable areas, [4] yet this was not reflected in the final report adopted today.

Positively, the Parliament is calling for energy efficiency to be a priority in EU offshore renewable energy developments and for the sector to ensure all industries and individuals impacted by such projects have their say. These are critical pieces to the puzzle of a successful roll-out of the EU’s offshore renewable energy Strategy. The proposal to create publicly-accessible regional maps showing how marine spaces are designated and accessed will be a tremendous asset to aid these processes.

As part of their transition to carbon-neutrality and to prevent conflict with other marine activities, including nature restoration, WWF calls on the 22 coastal Member States to transform sea areas currently occupied by fossil fuel activities into space for offshore renewable energy, doing so in line with an ecosystem-based approach, as required by law.

The European Commission, in turn, must ensure the upcoming EU nature restoration law enforces targets that support the thresholds necessary for healthy seas while leaving room for maritime infrastructure to achieve the 2030 and 2050 goals.

Contact:
Larissa Milo-Dale
Senior Marine Communications Officer
lmilodale@wwf.eu
+32 483 26 20 86

References: