Ostend, 25 April 2023 (TDI): North Sea Summit ll held on 24 April 2023. The Summit emphasise how crucial offshore wind is to the EU’s transition away from fossil fuels and how the North Sea can become into the continent’s largest source of green energy.

It traces its roots in the “North Sea Coalition,” which was formed by Belgium, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The war in Ukraine resulted in an energy crisis for the European countries. As a result, to coordinate their actions to combat dependence on gas and fossil fuels this coalition was formed.

The North Sea Summit ll followed in the footsteps of the first edition of the North Sea Summit held in May 2022 in Esbjerg, Denmark.

The North Sea Summit II brought together the Heads of State and Governments of the countries present, their Energy Ministers, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and a delegation of some 100 business leaders and industrial players from the energy sector and our countries.

The President of the European Commission Ursla von der Leyen in her address expressed her support for the Ostend Declaration. She further said that renewables are crucial for us to reach our goals in 2050. She highlighted the importance of the Green Deal Industrial Plan.

The first edition of the North Sea Summit resulted in a declaration formalizing the ambition of the four founding countries to quadruple their combined offshore power generation capacity to 150 GW by 2050. The 150 GW is the annual electricity consumption of 150 million European households.

The North Sea Summit II was the largest energy coalition in the North Sea. Along with the founding countries it also brought together France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, and Luxembourg.

The Summit aimed to further expand the collective ambition to harness the full energy and industrial potential of the North Sea. This will make it the largest powerhouse of Europe by 2050.

Also read: EU’s Intermediary Climate Target

The other issue of the North Sea Summit II was the transmission of this electricity.

The participants of the commission were hopeful that this geopolitical resilience will harness European innovation and provide thousands of jobs.

A final critical subject at the summit was the security of the offshore energy infrastructure.