Med OCEaN expert workshop: Bridging Policy and Practice

As offshore wind development accelerates across the Mediterranean, environmental assessments play an increasingly important role in ensuring effective and sustainable project delivery. The region’s ecological sensitivity and shared marine ecosystems call for particularly robust assessment approaches, especially when addressing the cumulative and transboundary impacts of floating offshore wind. Recent policy developments — including revisions to the Maritime Spatial Planning Directive (MSPD), the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), and the RED III Directive — have further reinforced the need for efficient and consistent assessment processes across the region.

Building on the discussions from the Med OCEaN Workshop in Porto in 2025, the Renewables Grid Initiative, WWF Mediterranean, and Med OCEaN are hosting a timely workshop on 1 December 2026 in Paris. The workshop will bring together regulators, practitioners, developers, researchers, and civil society representatives to explore how Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) at planning level and Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) at project level are coordinated and implemented across Mediterranean countries.

Moving beyond high-level policy discussions, this workshop will compare national approaches and focus on implementation challenges. Participants will explore how assessments are conducted and reviewed and discuss opportunities to improve consistency, transparency, and efficiency.

The event aims to:

• Identify bottlenecks in performing and reviewing SEAs and EIAs
• Investigate common technical standards and data-sharing protocols
• Address the application of significance thresholds for cumulative impact assessments

Register now to secure your spot and participate in the discussion. Registration is open until 31 October.

Please note that submitting a registration request does not automatically guarantee participation. Confirmation will be sent following a review of registrations.