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 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.