Shared Seas, Shared Decisions Stakeholder Engagement in Offshore Wind and Grid Planning

Europe is seeking to accelerate offshore wind and grid development while also meeting biodiversity protection and restoration objectives and ensuring that marine space remains available for fisheries, coastal communities, and other sea users. Several EU policy developments are shaping this agenda, with potential implications for environmental safeguards and stakeholder engagement. How can we translate these evolving policy frameworks into timely, coherent and environmentally sound infrastructure delivery? And, how does stakeholder engagement act as a key enabler in achieving these goals?

Meaningful stakeholder engagement is not an additional step in offshore wind and grid development; it is a core condition for planning and delivering infrastructure that works for people, nature, and the energy transition. As European seas become increasingly crowded and offshore wind and grid infrastructure expands, early stakeholder engagement during Maritime Spatial Planning and project permitting is essential to identify concerns, potential conflicts, knowledge gaps, and opportunities for coexistence.

In this context, Members of Offshore Coalition for Energy and Nature (OCEaN) in the North and Baltic Seas have been exploring stakeholder engagement formats, processes, and approaches in the region, collecting inspiring examples, and developing shared principles to guide the delivery of early, impactful engagement. We are proud to share the culmination of this work with the report Shared Seas, Shared Decisions, which was launched in tandem with a dedicated webinar on 29 September 2026.

Co-hosted by the Renewables Grid Initiative and OCEaN, this webinar outlined the report’s findings, presented its recommendations, and spotlighted selected organisations with practical examples featured in the report. All speakers then engaged in a discussion on the report’s implications, touching on the policy context, operational realities, and their perspective on the role of engagement in creating a durable nature-friendly offshore energy transition for both people and the planet.