WWF Position Paper: Accelerating offshore wind deployment in a nature friendly way

To tackle the climate emergency and the current energy security crisis, drastic reductions in the demand for fossil fuels are urgently needed. Meeting the Paris Agreement limit of 1.5°C of warming requires cutting the EU’s energy demand in half by 2050 compared to 2015 levels and shifting demand to renewable electricity in all sectors (notably electrification in industry, transport and buildings).

This requires a massive expansion of renewable electricity generation: approximately a 6-fold increase by 2045, compared to 2021 levels. On this basis WWF is calling for renewable energy to meet 50% of the EU’s final energy consumption by 2030.

To align climate change mitigation with the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy targets for 2030, WWF is advocating that tenders for offshore renewable energy projects should shift away from being based principally on price and move towards a broader framework that gives priority to environmental and social criteria.

In this position paper, WWF outlines how the use of non-price criteria to assess and select tenders can help address the twin crises of climate and biodiversity.

Download the Position Paper here