Socio-economic Impacts—Offshore Activities/Energy

The energy sector has a strong presence in the North Sea and in the surrounding coastal areas. Commercial extraction of offshore oil and gas and related activities (exploration, transportation and distribution; pipelines; oil refining and processing) constitutes the single most important economic sector and renewable electricity generation—mainly from offshore wind—is increasing. Energy and offshore activities in the North Sea are critically vulnerable to climate change along the full supply chain. The major vulnerabilities for offshore installations like rigs, offshore wind energy and pipelines concern wind storms and extreme wave heights, whereas on land coastal installations and transportation may also be adversely affected by flooding. Future renewable energy potentials in the North Sea are also susceptible to climate change. Whereas the hydropower potential is expected to increase, it is highly uncertain how much the future potential of other renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, terrestrial biomass, or emerging technologies like wave, tidal or marine biomass could be positively or negatively affected. Due to the different national energy supply mixes the vulnerability to climate-related impacts will vary among North Sea countries. To ensure safe and reliable future operations comprehensive and systematic risk assessments are therefore needed which account for, for example, the high integration of power systems in the region.