Offshore Wind Webinar Series: Can offshore wind go hand in hand with marine protection and restoration in the Baltic Sea?

On the 25th of September 2023 WWF and CCB organised a second webinar in the ongoing series on offshore wind “Can offshore wind go hand in hand with marine protection and restoration in the Baltic Sea?”.

The expansion of offshore wind remains key to Europe´s current push for Green Energy. Not only would it cut carbon emissions, but it would also serve to increase energy independence and security. This being said the scale of the planned offshore wind projects and that some of the technology used by offshore wind – particularly floating offshore wind –  remains in its infancy may have a number of unforeseen cumulative impacts on nature. To properly cover all angles on this issue, the webinar brought together representatives from numerous actors involved in the recent energy push in the region, including:

• Tina Tamm Bendixen – Ørsted´s Lead Environment Specialist,
• Līga Rozentāle – Latvia´s Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Climate and Energy,
• Dominik Auch – NABU´s Policy officer for marine spatial planning and offshore wind and;
• Andrew Lipski – the NOAA´s Offshore Wind Science Lead.

The 2030 Targets

The reason for this webinar stems from the sudden and unexpected urgent need for offshore wind power stemming from the Baltic and the risk that it may pose to already established Marine protected areas (MPAs). By why this sudden urgency, and why is it so important to protect MPAs?

The Marienborg Declaration, which was signed on the 30th of August 2022, committed to increasing the energy output of the Baltic Sea to 19.6GW by 2030, a sharp increase from the 2.8 GW that it was currently at. This was largely done to reduce reliance on Russian Natural Gas and Increase European energy independence and explicitly states that it wishes to improve energy infrastructure across the Baltic region. While the expansion of offshore wind is undoubtedly necessary for the environment, the sudden scramble to meet the tight deadline set by the Marienborg declaration means that there is a risk that certain environmental factors may be overlooked (i.e. migration routes, the impact of construction on the area around it, etc.). This is clearly less than ideal.

To combat this, WWF and CCB are doubling down on our defence of established MPAs, which not only act as safe zones for the conservation of various species but also increase the overall health and well-being of the Marine ecosystem as a whole. Many of these MPAs are also essential to achieving the 30% protection of land and oceans goal by 2030, commonly known as 30 by 30, as outlined at COP 15.

Known impacts of offshore wind

The reason why we need to be so strict with offshore wind implementation lies largely in that it holds many unknowns. Some of its impacts, such as those arising from the construction and decommissioning of the farms, are well documented, but there are others which remain a mystery. Harbor porpoises, for example, have been shown to feed less around wind farms, but there has not been enough research into the matter for us to know the long-term impact this will have on them. For every piece of evidence we have about its impact on habitat loss, seabird collisions, and noise pollution, there are many more impacts we don’t know about due to potential cumulative impacts. Some of these may even be positive for the ecosystem, such as the reduction of fishing around the wind farms, but overall, there are just too many unknowns.

To combat these unknowns, industry representative Tina Tamm Bendixen (Ørsted) recommended that environmental responsibility be central for new developments, even at the bidding stage of the process. This way it would not matter whether it was a more or less environmentally inclined organisation that secured the bid, as they would be held accountable. After all, as Dominic Auch, NABU´s Policy officer for marine spatial planning and offshore wind put it;

“We must view the ecosystem as being central to the planning process and remember that it does not stop at national borders”

There should be strict monitoring and assessment mechanisms put in place to properly gauge the environmental impact of any installation, and all of this should be reflected in national and European policy to safeguard the ecosystem at multiple levels. All of this and more is explained in depth in our WWF CCB Policy brief and guidelines.

 

Watch the Webinar Recording Here