Future uses/needs of the seas : integration of climate-smart trends and new technologies in maritime spatial planning : background technical study

Delivering the European Green Deal (2020) and a new approach for a Sustainable Blue Economy in the European Union (EU) (2021) requires urgent integration of climate-smart trends and new technologies in all types of planning, including maritime spatial planning (MSP) and other country-led instruments. Today, maritime activities increasingly embrace climate change mitigation and adaptation to meet goals to address the Triple Planetary Crisis of intertwined climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. With the rapid growth of activities at sea, including the large-scale development and deployment of offshore renewable energy (ORE) infrastructure, the maritime sectors also face the challenge of congested space and competition. As shown by the recently published European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA, 2024) by the European Environment Agency, all of Europe's seas are heavily affected by climate change, with key climate risks including coastal erosion and inundation, the decline of pelagic primary production, and changes to marine ecosystems' functioning and species distribution, which have clear impacts on the blue economy. The EU MSP Directive establishing a framework for maritime spatial planning identifies climate change as a threat and highlights the need to take into consideration long-term changes due to climate change in MSPs, and thereby to incorporate climate mitigation and adaptation actions into national MSP policy. The 2022 report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council outlining the progress made in implementing the MSP Directive emphasises that as a way forward Member States will need to better reflect the ambitions of the European Green Deal and the areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation in their MSPs, and to align their plans with these ambitions.