Study on Strategic Environmental Assessment and Exclusive Economic Zone

Within the german Energiewende the Federal Government seeks to use offshore wind energy on a large scale within the German Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). This will be a significant contribution to climate protection, resource conservation and less dependence on energy imports. Moreover, the development of offshore wind energy usage is to pay close attention to environmental impacts.

With these objectives in mind, the Department of Public Law at the University of Lüneburg, with the support of OECOS GmbH and BioConsult SH, worked on a R&D project named “Strategic environmental assessment and strategic environmental monitoring for offshore wind farms”. Customer was the German Ministry for the Environment (BMU). All legal aspects were discussed in detail, advisable planning methods for offshore strategic environmental assessment were examined, protected species were discussed in depth and recommendations were given for participatory processes and ecological studies.