North Sea

Key messages

Climate change adaptation in the North Sea region is supported in several policies, strategies and funding programmes at the transnational level of governance. It is mainly addressed by Priority 3 of the EU Interreg EU Interreg North Sea programme (2021-2027). This priority determines the EU co-funding of shared solutions for cross-border climate change challenges that require cooperation among organisations from different countries.
Under the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR Convention) climate change adaptation, resilience and mitigation are addressed as a cross-cutting issue, by the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy (NEAES, 2021) within strategic objectives 5, 10, 11 and 12.
The North Sea Commission (NSC) developed the North Sea Region 2030 Strategy(2020). Within its priority “A climate neutral North Sea region” it identifies climate change adaptation among the key topics.

Geographic scope

The cooperation area of the North Sea Region (NSR) includes territories of Northern Europe that are closed to the North Sea. All participating regions are adjacent to marine waters and many of them are coastal regions. The cooperation area of the 2021-2027 Interreg Programme stretches from coastal regions of Northern France to the Southern parts of Norway and selected regions of Sweden. Compared to the previous programming period (2014-2020), major changes are: the exclusion of the whole United Kingdom* and of the northernmost counties of Norway (the latter are now included in the Northern Periphery and Arctic region), the inclusion of France as a new country partner, and the extension to the whole territory of the Netherlands and of Flanders. A map comparing the old and new borders can be seen here.

*From the entry into force of the UK Withdrawal Agreement on 1 February 2020, content from the United Kingdom will no longer be updated on this website

Region's countries:

Belgium, Denmark, Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway

Why climate change adaptation matters in the North Sea region

The 2024 European Climate Risk Assessment has shown that the North Sea region as part of Northern Europe is affected by multiple risks due to increasing flooding as well as wildfires. Policies and measures coordinated across borders need to be taken to effectively make this transnational region climate resilient.

Policy framework

1. Transnational cooperation programme

To support EU-level policies, address regional challenges and strengths, and take lessons learned from the previous programming period on board, the Interreg North Sea programme (2021-2027) is based on four thematic priorities:

Priority 1: Robust and smart economies in the North Sea region
Priority 2: A green transition in the North Sea
Priority 3: A climate resilient North Sea region
Priority 4: Better governance in the North Sea region

Climate change adaptation is especially addressed under the priority 3. It aims at developing a long-term perspective to preserve the natural environment of the North Sea region and to protect societies from the adverse impact of climate change. Projects under this priority will contribute to climate change adaptation practices, especially to achieve the specific objective (SO) 3.1: “Promoting climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention, resilience, taking into account ecosystem based approaches”. Climate change adaptation is considered strictly related to sustainable water management in the North Sea region. Both issues need to be jointly addressed by the North Sea Programme.

The previous programme (2014-2020) had already acknowledged climate change as one of the most serious threats facing the NSR ecosystems. Climate change adaptation was explicitly considered within priority 3 (Sustainable North Sea Region). It supported, funding of projects that catalysed climate resilience in the region.

2. Macro-region strategies

3. International conventions and other cooperation initiatives

The OSPAR ‘Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic’ includes the Greater North Sea (Region II according to the OSPAR definition) which is part of the overall North-East Atlantic as defined by this Convention. Under the OSPAR convention, climate change (and ocean acidification) is addressed as a cross-cutting issue, aiming at increasing ecosystem resilience. It includes terms of knowledge generation, monitoring of impacts and design of management options.

A cooperation initiative for the protection of the Wadden Sea has been developed between the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. The Wadden Sea is an area along the North Sea coasts of the three countries, which is includes a wide tidal area hosting characteristic natural habitat. The Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation is based on a declaration of intent, the ‘Joint Declaration on the Protection of the Wadden Sea (Working together to meet present and future challenges), which was first signed in 1982, and updated in 2010. The objectives and areas of cooperation include the ‘Adaptability to climate change and other impacts’. The Leeuwarden Declaration, signed in 2018, contains key points for the 2018-2022 period of the Trilateral Cooperation. It reinforces the need to continue implementing the Trilateral Climate Change Adaptation Strategy and to better understand the impacts of climate change on the Wadden Sea ecosystem.

The North Sea Commission within the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions is a cooperation initiative that aims to promote and create awareness of the North Sea region as a major economic entity within Europe. It is a platform for developing and obtaining funding for joint development initiatives and lobbies for a better North Sea region. The Energy and Climate change working group supports the NSC Executive Committee in implementing the Climate Neutral North Sea Region priority area of the North Sea Region 2030 Strategy. The group also addresses climate change adaptation towards the 2030 goal of “climate ready, adaptable and resilient to climate change” North Sea Region. The group adopted the ‘Climate Change Adaptation and North Sea Commission’ report (2020) with a more detailed description on how to reach a state of climate resilience in the North Sea Region.

4. Adaptation strategies and plans

The North Sea Commission (NSC) within the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) developed the North Sea Region 2030 Strategy that has replaced the previous 2020 Strategy. Within the priority “A climate neutral north sea region”, the Strategy identifies climate change adaptation among the key topics to achieve the vision of a (climate) resilient and adapted North Sea region. The strategy encourages the intensification of efforts on climate change adaptation across local, regional and national levels. Under this topic, NSC members will share funding, project opportunities, and best practices fostering a socially fair and just transition. The strategy is implemented by the NSC Executive Committee. It is supported by the NSC thematic working groups through biannual Action Plans.

In 2014, the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation has adopted a trilateral Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (CCAS) with seven strategic objectives and guiding principles. The strategy aims to enhance the resilience of the Wadden Sea ecosystem to the impacts of climate change. The Task Group Climate (TG-C) was assigned to monitor the implementation of the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. The strategy’s implementation was evaluated in a CCAS monitoring report in 2017. It revealed that the seven principles are being applied in a wide range of projects and policies in the trilateral Wadden Sea Area.

Under the OSPAR convention, the North-East Atlantic Environment Strategy (NEAES) 2030 was adopted in 2021, based on a high-level review of OSPAR's previous strategy for the decade 2010-2020. Though it is not a climate change adaptation strategy, the strategy’s vision is to achieve a clean, healthy and biologically diverse North-East Atlantic Ocean, which is productive, used sustainably and resilient to climate change and ocean acidification. Four strategic objectives deal with climate change: addressing the topic of resilience (strategic objective 5), awareness (strategic objective 10), adaptation (strategic objective 11) and mitigation (strategic objective 12). Contracting Parties have agreed on an implementation plan that contains specific tasks to achieve the strategies’ objectives.