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ZENODO
Report . 2025
License: CC BY
Data sources: ZENODO
ZENODO
Report . 2025
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
ZENODO
Report . 2025
License: CC BY
Data sources: Datacite
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Impacts of offshore wind farm expansion: what are the consequences for achieving Good Environmental Status across European marine waters?

Authors: Cervantes, Andrea; Pace, Federica; Gallou, Eirini; Kadiri, Margaret; Velázquez, Javier; Fernandes, Maria da Luz; Langridge, Joseph; +11 Authors

Impacts of offshore wind farm expansion: what are the consequences for achieving Good Environmental Status across European marine waters?

Abstract

This report is a knowledge synthesis, commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Environment (DG ENV), conducted by Eklipse under the EU-funded BioAgora project “Connecting biodiversity knowledge and decision-making” to describe the impacts (including cumulative) of the expansion of offshore wind energy production on the achievement of the Good Ecological Status (GES). The request was originally submitted by DG ENV to the Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity (KCBD) via its ticketing system in December 2023, an online tool for policy Directorate-Generals to submit knowledge requests linked to biodiversity. The request received by the KCBD was handed to BioAgora to coordinate the response. Offshore wind is central to the EU’s energy transition, with targets set to increase offshore renewable generation capacity from ~16 GW today to up to 89 GW by 2030 and 366 GW by 2050. However, the expansion of Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs) must align with the EU’s environmental legislation, notably the Marine Strategy Framework Directive’s (MSFD) requirement to achieve GES across all EU marine waters by 2030 under 11 ecological descriptors. This report supports and contributes to the EU's efforts in its drive for offshore wind energy expansion. The specific aims of the report are to: ● Investigate the impacts of fixed-foundation wind turbines on each of the 11 MSFD descriptors of GES. These include biological diversity (D1), non-indigenous species (D2), commercially exploited fish and shellfish (D3), marine food webs (D4), and human-induced eutrophication (D5). They also include seafloor integrity (D6), hydrographical conditions (D7), contaminants (D8), contaminants in fish and other seafood (D9), marine litter (D10), and energy, including underwater noise (D11). ● Underscore the consequences and cumulative impacts of OWFs on marine ecosystems. ● Identify and analyse knowledge gaps through a scoping literature review and expert participatory workshop. This report combines the findings of the scoping review and a subsequent participatory workshop with external experts to assess the cumulative impacts of OWFs and knowledge gaps. The Scoping review provided a narrative synthesis of the existing evidence related to the abovementioned aims, with the findings compiled into Short Scientific Summaries (SSS) for each GES descriptor. The participatory workshop gathered expert insights and provided experimental knowledge, including key implications for OWF-associated policies, to support and complement the SSS findings.

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    selected citations
    These citations are derived from selected sources.
    This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    0
    popularity
    This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
    influence
    This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
    Average
    impulse
    This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
    Average
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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
Green