Stakeholder Perspectives Need to be Known and Aligned

The North Sea serves important ecological, societal, and economic functions to a wide range of stakeholders. Stakeholders of the region agree on the need for large-scale offshore wind, the need to reduce spatial pressure and the importance of a common knowledge base. However, views diverge on the need for national self-sufficiency, the importance of (especially blue) hydrogen, the societal value of re-use and the relevance of CCS to system integration. Therefore, it has been found that going forward, it is essential to build consensus among stakeholders to gain their support for system integration. This study incorporated the different perspectives to reflect their views on North Sea Energy and was supported by the insights on stakeholder perspectives generated under work package 2 of the North Sea Energy programme.