World-leading offshore wind developer Orsted has entered into a five year global partnership with the WWF.
Together they will drive a fundamental change in the approach to integrating action on climate and biodiversity by advancing projects that strive to achieve a net-positive biodiversity impact. he Danish giant, one of the world’s most sustainable energy companies, and the world leader in nature conservation, will jointly identify, develop, and advocate for offshore wind deployment initiatives and approaches that not only are in balance with nature but also enhance it.
And work will begin in the North Sea, where the world-leading Hornsea Zone is located, operated and maintained from Grimsby, and where Orsted has already committed to a £2.5 million project in the Humber. It stretches to improving project design, materials sustainability and implementing monitoring systems designed to protect and conserve endangered species such as the North Atlantic right whale.
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Mads Nipper, chief executive of Orsted, said: “Governments accelerate the build-out of offshore wind energy to end their dependence on fossil fuels and power the world sustainably. If done in the right way, offshore wind projects can enhance ocean biodiversity, improving ocean health, and thereby address both the climate and biodiversity crises.
“Addressing climate change and biodiversity loss together allows for a much-needed shift in the way governments, NGOs, and businesses work to solve these interrelated crises. Solutions must complement one another, not come at the expense of each other.”
Orsted committed to the r eef rebuilding in June, and is also investigating the possibility of repurposing former oil and gas infrastructure as nesting sites for kittiwake colonies.
Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, said: “The planned expansion of offshore wind risks having a negative impact on biodiversity if done in the wrong way. However, if done right, it can support and enhance ocean biodiversity and create a net-positive biodiversity impact. This is why this partnership between Orsted and WWF is so important to developing offshore wind energy with a net-positive impact on the ocean. It’s ambitious, but it’s absolutely necessary.”
This decade will see global installed offshore wind capacity increase by a factor of seven as energy systems the world over are weaned off fossil fuels.
The partnership aims to innovate and test tangible initiatives that improve ocean biodiversity and can be used as additional measures to achieve a net-positive impact; develop science-based recommendations for how governments can incorporate such measures as requirements in offshore wind development and bring together those who use the ocean and those who seek to protect its health and deliver on a common vision.
One key issue is how to make space in the ocean for both increased nature and increased offshore wind energy, with a renewed and innovative approach to ecosystem-based marine spatial planning sought. To start the work Orsted and WWF will invite leading experts to discuss the best way forward at a joint event at COP27. One ambition for the partnership will be to have nature protection and restoration implemented in future offshore wind tenders by governments globally.
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