Abstract
OCEaN – North & Baltic Seas has launched three factsheets as part of our new Stronger Data, Smarter Seas series. In cooperation with our Members, these factsheets aim to outline the importance of data monitoring, collection, and sharing throughout all stages of offshore wind and grid development to protect the health and resilience of our seas. Considering nature from planning through to decommissioning supports conservation, helps reduce costs, and ensures infrastructure development is aligned with both biodiversity and energy goals.
The first factsheet presents ‘a four-step path to nature-inclusive offshore wind and grids’ – clearly outlining how developers work closely with ecological experts on Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), mitigation objectives, environmental monitoring, and adaptive management. These four steps are closely connected and most effective when applied as a coherent process. The factsheet aims to make these steps tangible with a clear example of these processes using the harbour porpoise.
The second factsheet dives into data sharing, emphasising that the exchange of environmental monitoring data from offshore wind and grid projects can support regulators, developers, and researchers. At present, developers and transmission system operators (TSOs) collect vast amounts of data, but the scarcity of platforms for exchange hinders sharing, accessibility, and reusability of this information. The factsheet outlines existing national data sharing platforms in Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom, comparing how they operate and aim to improve data access, management, and reuse.
The third factsheet looks at the role of environmental indicators and why their harmonisation across sea basins is vital to improve monitoring and help assess cumulative impacts from offshore wind and grid projects. It presents a visual of the ‘monitoring cascade’ showing the relationship between project-level indicators and top-down level guidance, for example those outlined in the Maritime Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The MSFD is currently undergoing revision, which provides an opportunity to align environmental management, monitoring and data collection from the project to the European level, by clarifying guidance, targets and data transmission processes. OCEaN therefore submitted these factsheets as evidence to the European Commission’s call for evidence in March 2026.