Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 277
Offshore Wind Worldwide 2023
and North Seas neighbours in relation to
the development of offshore renewable
energy and grid infrastructure essential
for meeting UK net zero commitments
and improving European energy security.
The Memorandum of Understanding
with the North Seas Energy Cooperation
(NSEC) forum fulfils commitments in the
UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), enabling the UK to work with
NSEC members to develop renewables
projects in the North Seas - specifically
projects linking electricity interconnectors and windfarms. The countries
involved included Belgium, Denmark,
France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and the
European Commission. The Memorandum of Understanding set out the terms
for future cooperation between the UK
and NSEC and enabled closer cooperation in the development of offshore
renewable energy, including offshore
grids in the North Seas. The initiative is
expected to support the UK’s targets to
increase offshore wind fivefold to 50GW,
and deliver 18GW of electricity interconnector capacity.
(c) COP27 Conference
The 27th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties was held in Sharm
El Sheikh, Egypt in November 2022 and
was attended by more than 100 Heads
of State and Governments and over
35,000 delegates including world leaders,
13 What was agreed at COP27? (parliament.uk)
14 Offshore Wind Market Report – Global Highlights for COP 27 (erm.com)
277
experts, campaigners and government
officials.
The conference saw the COP presidency
pass from the UK to Egypt and marked
the 30th anniversary of the UNFCCC.
Four key themes were identified for
COP27: mitigation, adaptation, finance
and collaboration.13
COP27 reaffirmed the global commitment to limit global temperature rise to
1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial
levels. In addition, finance was at the
centre the negotiations with agreement
to compensate nations for loss and damage caused by climate change through
the establishment of a fund. A mitigation work programme was also launched
which will start immediately after COP27
and continue until 2026. Governments
were also asked to strengthen their national climate plans by the end of 2023.
Ahead of COP27, the Renewables Consulting Group (RCG) issued the Global Offshore Wind: Annual Market Report which
highlighted that the global offshore wind
project portfolio has increased by 112%
globally since COP 26, with Brazil and the
United States cited as countries driving
the highest percentages new offshore
wind projects.14
In the UK, the commitments discussed
at COP27 reinforced and gave further
