Northern European Sea Basins project’s (NESBp) Work Package on Energy Transition and Biodiversity in Maritime Spatial Planning made significant progress during the second half of year 2025. Key advancements included the further development of a common terminological glossary, the initiation of a comprehensive catalogue of mitigation measures, and substantial steps forward in advancing cumulative impact assessment at sea-basin level.

Developing a Shared Terminological Glossary

The work on the glossary on terminology related to energy transition and biodiversity made progress in the second half of 2025. Its structure improved and links to other projects and committees, e.g. the North Sea MSP Collaboration Group, were established.

Compiling a Catalogue of Mitigation Measures

The work on a catalogue of mitigation measures starts from an overview of actions for enhancement of nature conservation in MSP. Sources of information for the overview have been identified and a connection to the currently running work in the NSEC SG2 on mitigation measures was established.

The main sources of information are the outcomes of MSP4BIO project and scoping work of PROTECT Baltic project, which jointly provides a comprehensive insight into potentially foreseeable conservation and restoration measures. It is to be complemented by a compilation of respective measures envisaged in existing national MSPs in the North and Baltic Sea regions.

A questionnaire to collect the information needed has been circulated among project members and regional initiatives in the North and Baltic Sea regions. This overview will be drafted at the beginning of 2026 to lay basis for subsequent analysis of potential application of these measures to mitigate environmental pressures and their systematization for the catalogue.

A workshop is planned in March 2026 to discuss the current state of mitigation and restoration measures, gaps and opportunities as well as recommendations for implementing effective measures in marine planning instruments.

Read more about the NESB project: www.NESBproject.eu 

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the project consortium only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Advancing Cumulative Impact Assessment at Sea-Basin Level

The work in this task made huge progress. As a support of the GNSBI working track Cumulative Impact Assessment, the work with regional institutions was initiated through bilateral talks, a survey, and an online workshop. The aim is to improve cooperation, pool resources, and establish a common framework. In parallel, experts from the responsible authorities of all North Sea and Baltic Sea countries were approached via an online survey to create a state-of-the-art overview on CIA development and application in MSP. Furthermore, country experts were gathered in an online workshop to get first insights of their needs, especially on cross-border assessments. These meetings and information gathering was only a first step and will be continued during the next year.

Planned deliverables

In June 2026 it is planned to deliver the first Work Package report focussing on the glossary on the terminology related to the energy transition and biodiversity​.

Outlook 2026

For the year 2026 the Work Package plans to host several workshops.

• At first, it will be a Work Package meeting in March where further experts on the topics will be invited.
• A workshop is planned on 30-31 March 2026 in Gdansk, Poland.
• Early summer 2026 a workshop on the collaboration on Cumulative Impact Assessment will be hosted together with the respective Working Track of the Greater North Sea Basin Initiative.
• For later in 2026 it will be assessed to host a workshop dedicated to the topic of mitigation measures.

More about the NESB project’s Work Package 3 “Energy Transition and Biodiversity in MSP” here.