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Biodiversity offsets for offshore wind farm projects: The current situation in Europe

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  • Anne-Charlotte Vaissière

    (AMURE - Aménagement des Usages des Ressources et des Espaces marins et littoraux - Centre de droit et d'économie de la mer - IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - UBO - Université de Brest - IUEM - Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - INSU - CNRS - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers - UBO - Université de Brest - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Harold Levrel

    (AMURE - Aménagement des Usages des Ressources et des Espaces marins et littoraux - Centre de droit et d'économie de la mer - IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer - UBO - Université de Brest - IUEM - Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - INSU - CNRS - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers - UBO - Université de Brest - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Sylvain Pioch

    (CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - Montpellier SupAgro - Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques - EPHE - École Pratique des Hautes Études - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IRD [Occitanie] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier)

  • Antoine Carlier

    (DYNECO - Unité Dynamiques des Écosystèmes Côtiers - IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer)

Abstract

The European Union׳s energy policy aims to increase the proportion of energy derived from renewable sources in Europe. Marine renewable energy, offshore wind energy especially, contributes to the renewable energy mix. Offshore wind farms appear to be clean, and are supported by governments and NGOs as a way to reduce the use of conventional energy resources and thus decrease greenhouse gas emissions. However, developing infrastructure in marine areas can impact marine ecosystems. European directives ask offshore wind farm developers to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) including a mitigation hierarchy, i.e. envisaging measures that would avoid, reduce, and if possible offset significant adverse effects on ecosystems and human activities. This paper reviews EIA reports from seven European countries and is focused on impacts on the open water marine environment. According to the reports, measures have been taken for avoiding and reducing impacts, so there should be no significant negative residual impacts and hence no need of offsets. But the mitigation hierarchy for ecological impacts seems to have been incompletely implemented, because it is unlikely that there are no significant residual impacts. The paper proposes some technical and ecological explanations, followed by some governance and social explanations, for the absence of biodiversity offsets

Suggested Citation

  • Anne-Charlotte Vaissière & Harold Levrel & Sylvain Pioch & Antoine Carlier, 2014. "Biodiversity offsets for offshore wind farm projects: The current situation in Europe," Post-Print hal-01692356, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01692356
    DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2014.03.023
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01692356v1
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    1. Kyriazi, Zacharoula & Lejano, Raul & Maes, Frank & Degraer, Steven, 2015. "Bargaining a net gain compensation agreement between a marine renewable energy developer and a marine protected area manager," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 40-48.
    2. C, O. Mauricio Hernandez & Shadman, Milad & Amiri, Mojtaba Maali & Silva, Corbiniano & Estefen, Segen F. & La Rovere, Emilio, 2021. "Environmental impacts of offshore wind installation, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning activities: A case study of Brazil," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    3. R, Hall & E, Topham & E, João, 2022. "Environmental Impact Assessment for the decommissioning of offshore wind farms," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    4. Joalland, Olivier & Mahieu, Pierre-Alexandre, 2023. "Developing large-scale offshore wind power programs: A choice experiment analysis in France," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    5. Victoria Gartman & Lea Bulling & Marie Dahmen & Gesa Geißler & Johann Köppel, 2016. "Mitigation Measures for Wildlife in Wind Energy Development, Consolidating the State of Knowledge — Part 1: Planning and Siting, Construction," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 18(03), pages 1-45, September.
    6. Kyriazi, Zacharoula & Maes, Frank & Degraer, Steven, 2016. "Coexistence dilemmas in European marine spatial planning practices. The case of marine renewables and marine protected areas," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 391-399.
    7. Soares-Ramos, Emanuel P.P. & de Oliveira-Assis, Lais & Sarrias-Mena, Raúl & Fernández-Ramírez, Luis M., 2020. "Current status and future trends of offshore wind power in Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    8. Chee Sze Yan & Siow Chun Lim & Chan Kah Yoong, 2022. "Potential of Small-wind Turbine for Power Generation on Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms in Malaysia," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 12(6), pages 272-282, November.
    9. Jianchang Lu & Weiguo Fan & Ming Meng, 2015. "Empirical Research on China’s Carbon Productivity Decomposition Model Based on Multi-Dimensional Factors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(4), pages 1-25, April.
    10. Jacob, Céline & Vaissiere, Anne-Charlotte & Bas, Adeline & Calvet, Coralie, 2016. "Investigating the inclusion of ecosystem services in biodiversity offsetting," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 21(PA), pages 92-102.
    11. Gasparatos, Alexandros & Doll, Christopher N.H. & Esteban, Miguel & Ahmed, Abubakari & Olang, Tabitha A., 2017. "Renewable energy and biodiversity: Implications for transitioning to a Green Economy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 161-184.
    12. Takvor H. Soukissian & Dimitra Denaxa & Flora Karathanasi & Aristides Prospathopoulos & Konstantinos Sarantakos & Athanasia Iona & Konstantinos Georgantas & Spyridon Mavrakos, 2017. "Marine Renewable Energy in the Mediterranean Sea: Status and Perspectives," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-56, September.
    13. Jens Lüdeke, 2017. "Offshore Wind Energy: Good Practice in Impact Assessment, Mitigation and Compensation," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 19(01), pages 1-31, March.
    14. Weiguo Fan & Zhicheng Gao & Nan Chen & Hejie Wei & Zihan Xu & Nachuan Lu & Xuechao Wang & Peng Zhang & Jiahui Ren & Sergio Ulgiati & Xiaobin Dong, 2018. "It is Worth Pondering Whether a Carbon Tax is Suitable for China’s Agricultural-Related Sectors," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-26, August.

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