Germany pushes for closer offshore wind cooperation between Baltic Sea states

Germany wants to increase international cooperation on making the Baltic Sea an important location for offshore wind generation. The country plans to use its one-year presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States starting in July to push the issue, foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said before the start of a ministerial session of the Council in Kristiansand in Norway, reports Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). “Phasing out fossil fuels is not only a climate policy necessity, but also a security policy imperative,” Baerbock said. The talks in the Council focus “on the security situation in the Baltic Sea region following Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” according to Germany’s foreign office. “The green and digital transformation in the Baltic Sea region is also high on the meeting’s agenda […] the focus is on extending renewable energies and energy infrastructure in the region to make an important contribution to combating climate change and to make Europe less dependent on oil and gas from Russia.”

The Council of the Baltic Sea States was founded in 1992 and includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the EU. Russia's membership was suspended at the beginning of March. Offshore wind is a central pillar of Germany’s energy transition and the current government has significantly stepped up the country’s targets for deploying the technology.