north sea

Today's visionary declaration by North Sea Ministers to promote renewable energy in the North Sea was clouded by fall out from the on-going argument on radioactive discharges from Sellafield. 

North Sea Ministers including UK Environment Minister Michael Meacher agreed to "welcome the development of renewable energy, inter alia offshore wind energyThey agree to take action to exploit this potential fully and safely." However, Greenpeace warned that this historic commitment would be undermined by the continued support of the UK and France to the polluting nuclear industry.

The North Sea has huge potential to harness wind power and develop renewable energy. Just 1% of the resource could power more than 6 million homes. In contrast to the billions of euros of state support for the nuclear industry, renewables still receive insufficient funding.

Greenpeace political advisor Simon Reddy said,
"The UK and France have to understand that the policies they articulated in Bergen represent a fundamental contradiction. What use is it signing up to clean renewable energy if you simultaneously continue to support a failing industry that is polluting our environment? It's a policy that's about as stable as the ice shelf that's just broken off from Antarctica."

During the 5th North Sea Ministers meeting in Bergen, the UK Environment Minister Michael Meacher stated publicly: "The twentieth century was the century of oil, the twenty-first must be the century of renewable energy."

The conference saw Ministers from nine countries and the EU recognise that climate change brought on by the use of fossil fuels poses a potent threat to the ecosystem and coastal regions of the North Sea. They also acknowledged the need to develop renewable alternatives to fossil fuels like oil and gas.

The commitment by the ministers to take action to exploit the wind potential of the North Sea was welcomed by Greenpeace. However, the agreement will only be worthwhile if it leads to massive financial investment in the offshore wind industry. Greenpeace emphasised that only through a commitment to renewable energy technologies will governments be able to make a substantial and sustainable contribution to their Kyoto Protocol commitments.

The North Sea Ministers Conference this year will focus on a number of key environmental issues including the development and use of renewable energy, radioactive waste transports, radioactive discharges and the release of hazardous substances into the environment. 

Greenpeace will be attending the conference to encourage ministers to commit to action to reverse the ongoing damage to the climate through the use of fossil fuels and to protect the environment and economy of the North Sea area from radioactive and chemical pollution.

Oslo, 22 October 1999 - Greenpeace today welcomed Phillips Norway's proposal to decommission onshore, all fourteen steel oil platforms from the North Sea "Ekofisk I" field, as a significant step that will boost the development of the onshore decommissioning industry. Today Phillips Norway released their proposal for the disposal of the "Ekofisk I" offshore field, by far the largest upcoming decommissioning project in the North Sea. Over the next few years, fourteen steel platforms and one concrete offshore installation will be decomissioned and have to be dismantled.