An international Ocean Renewable Energy Action Coalition has been formed to advance sustainable deployment of ocean-based renewable energy and mitigate the harmful impacts of climate change.

Ocean-based renewable energy, such as offshore wind, floating solar, tidal and wave power, could meet nearly 10 percent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed by 2050 to keep global temperatures under 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels, according to a report released by the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. Most of this climate change mitigation potential is expected to come from offshore wind.

The report, released in September 2019, indicates that scaling up ocean-based renewable energy could save up to 5.4 gigatonnes of CO2e annually by 2050, equivalent to taking over a billion cars off the road each year. Decarbonizing domestic and international shipping and transport could cut up to 1.8 gigatonnes of CO2e annually by 2050. Additionally, using low-carbon sources of protein from the ocean, such as seafood and seaweed, would ease emissions from land-based food production and support emission reductions of up to 1.24 gigatonnes of CO2e each year by 2050.

Bringing together civil society, intergovernmental institutions and industry, the Action Coalition will represent the offshore wind sector in the global dialogue on climate action. It will be spearheaded by Ørsted and Equinor. The group also includes: CWind, Global Marine Group, JERA, MHI Vestas, Mainstream Renewable Power, Shell, Siemens Gamesa, TenneT and The Crown Estate.

The Action Coalition was formed in response to the September 2019 Call for Ocean-Based Climate Action made by the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, with additional partners including Global Wind Energy Council and the UN Global Compact.

The Action Coalition will prepare a vision for 2050, highlighting the actions that industry, financiers and governments can take to sustainably scale-up offshore wind, and thereby contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and global decarbonization goals. Initial outputs will be announced at the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon in June 2020.