Ecosystem impact must guide offshore wind development - NGO

The rollout of offshore wind in the German North and Baltic seas can be reconciled with environmental concerns, but the location of specific marine ecosystems must become a core part of the planning process, according to one of the country’s largest environmental NGOs NABU. “If the energy transition is going to happen in a way that is compatible with nature, marine ecosystems point to where and how much offshore wind energy can be built,” said NABU president Jörg-Andreas Krüger. “It can’t just be about where there is still space in the already overloaded North and Baltic seas. It’s time to stop competing for space. Climate protection and conservation must become allies.”

Thanks to its reliable output, offshore wind power is considered an important part of Germany's move towards an economy based on 100 percent renewable energy, as the country plans to increase its offshore wind capacity ninefold to 70 GW by 2045. In a report, NABU warned against developing most of Germany’s regions in the Baltic Sea, which hosts habitats of particularly sensitive species, pushing for more development in a region in the North Sea far from the coast. It added that Germany’s marine regions contain 14 seabird species, porpoises and four types of biotopes that require protection. NABU said intact marine ecosystems can help fight climate change because they absorb carbon. “Carbon sinks are our most important allies in the fight against the climate crisis,” the report argued.