European Marine Board

We support the revision of Directive 2018/2001 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources and the proposed increase in GHG reduction targets. However, we would like to highlight a number of areas that we feel merit additional attention to ensure that the stated ‘do no harm’ principle which underpins the EU Green Deal is truly respected.

All human activities conducted in Europe must comply to the upcoming Climate Law. Future climate change depends on current and future greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn depend on international policy. The only option to avoid catastrophic climate change is to make rapid and fundamental changes to our energy, industrial, transport, agricultural and consumption systems such that we move towards net-zero or…

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes this initiative to meet the EUs climate ambitions and expand renewable energy usage. While we support strengthening the sector, we urge caution. All approaches for renewable energy expansion should consider the environment and communities in addition to economics.

The European Marine Board (EMB) strongly supports plans to improve coherence and effective implementation of maritime governance, particularly the reference to all Ocean-related targets in one instrument, and digitalised and standardised reporting and data formats to make Ocean data FAIR and open. Ocean observations are critical for understanding and managing EU waters considering the triple planetary crisis.

The European Marine Board (EMB) Secretariat is supportive of the ECs efforts to explore additional approaches for protecting and valuing nature. We are also encouraged by the recognition of the importance of supporting and informing the initiative by sound science. We are happy to see the marine ecosystems and nature users and the EU Ocean Pact mentioned.

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes this initiative to strengthen and synergise Europes approach to climate resilience and risk management. While the European Ocean Pact is referenced, we encourage DG CLIMA to ensure that the Ocean is included throughout this initiative.

The European Marine Board (EMB) is pleased to see the European Commissions (EC) continued focus on protecting the Arctic environment, and its appreciation of the importance of science and research. In the update, EMB urges the EC to seek policy coherence and alignment with other relevant ongoing (Ocean Pact, Water Resilience Strategy) and established policies. The Arctic is not isolated from the rest of the world.

We welcome this initiative of revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR) to align better with the new Circular Economy Action Plan and the European Green Deal in general. We would like to highlight the importance of having a strong and encompassing WSR for the ocean and the European seas.

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes the ECs ongoing work to fully achieve the goals of the European Research Area and remains a strong supporter of this initiative. We have been advocating for a European Marine Research Area since 2000 (https://www.marineboard.eu/publication/towards-european-marine-research-area) when we highlighted that although European research spending was 1.8% of GDP, only 0.8% of Europes…

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes this initiative to develop a 2040 Vision for fisheries and aquaculture, which will lay down a 15-year strategic framework to guide policy developments through the value chain in the fisheries, aquaculture and processing sectors, while aiming to address systemic challenges affecting the fisheries and aquaculture sector and ensuring its sustainability and long-term…

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes the merging of the Ocean and Water Resilience Research and Innovation (R&I) Strategies as a clear sign of the Commissions commitment to a source-to-sea approach for managing our Ocean and inland waters.

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes this initiative to clarify the use of high-quality international carbon credits for the EUs 2040 climate targets. The Ocean absorbs approximately 25% of all annually emitted CO2 from human activities (~10.5 gigatonnes CO2/year), and is the largest dynamic carbon reservoir on Earth, holding around 37,000 billion tonnes of carbon.

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes the merging of the Ocean and Water Resilience Research and Innovation (R&I) Strategies as a clear sign of the Commissions commitment to a source-to-sea approach for managing our Ocean and waters. However, it will not be possible to deliver the aims of the Strategy without appropriate funding. At present, plans for the next MFF do not mention the Ocean explicitly.

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes this initiative to review the EU climate policy framework for the post-2030 period and to consider how national climate targets can incentivise action and ensure achievement of the EU 2040 climate target. EMB is the leading European think tank in marine science policy, representing over 10,000 scientists and technical staff around Europe.

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes the ‘Chemical safety – better access to chemicals data for safety assessments’ initiative. As outlined in the EMB’s Future Science Brief No. 6, Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data is an important pre-requisite to a big data approach.

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes this initiative to improve the MSFD to better protect the marine environment and simplify its implementation. EMB strongly supports the hard law measures approach in the MSFD revision. The current Directive uses guidelines and recommendations to support legislation, and the evaluation has shown that this is not effective.

The European Marine Board (EMB) Secretariat supports the European Commission’s Nutrient Action Plan for Better Management to help reduce nutrients by at least 50% and hope that it will complement the Zero Pollution Action Plan. The problem statement highlights the importance of an integrated approach on nutrient pollution including air, water, soil and climate.

The European Marine Board (EMB) welcomes this initiative to further develop the sustainability of Europes tourism sector. We encourage the development of the Strategy to reflect the diversity of tourism destinations, including those in marine and coastal areas, and to be cognisant of the diversity of needs and challenges for the different environments.

The European Marine Board (EMB) takes this opportunity to highlight the strategic importance of the Ocean, and Ocean science and innovation, in shaping the EUs role in a changing and uncertain world. As presented in our marine science-policy foresight publication Navigating the Future VI (https://www.marineboard.eu/publications/nfvi), the Ocean plays a crucial role in Earths interconnected systemsclimate…

We welcome the European Commission’s efforts to centralise the information on what ocean variables are measured where, how often, and by whom. We also find the broad definition used for marine observation, including all survey and monitoring campaigns and sampling programmes currently conducted for different purposes (e.g. military, environmental and fisheries monitoring, research, navigation, etc.) beneficial.

The European Marine Board (EMB) Secretariat welcomes this initiative to update the EUs strategic approach to external action on fisheries and on EU Ocean diplomacy, and to ensure a level playing field. We start by recalling the importance of ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) to inform any fisheries action: The need to implement EBFM is enshrined in many EU and internal policies and agreements, but its…