At the third North Sea Summit in Hamburg, European heads of government and energy ministers agreed on far-reaching measures to strengthen energy security, expand renewable energy and protect critical infrastructure. Hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the meeting brought together representatives from Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg and Germany, alongside the European Commission. For the first time, senior representatives of NATO also took part.
The summit continues the cooperation among North Sea countries that has intensified since Russia’s war against Ukraine, aiming to reduce dependence on fossil energy imports and increase Europe’s strategic resilience.
A central outcome was the renewed commitment to the large-scale expansion of offshore wind power. The participating states reaffirmed their target of building up to 100 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity in the North Sea. This level of capacity would be sufficient to supply electricity to tens of millions of households and represents a major step toward Europe’s climate and energy goals. The countries agreed to better interconnect offshore wind farms across borders and to jointly develop grid infrastructure to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
In addition, governments, grid operators and the offshore wind industry agreed on a long-term investment pact aimed at providing planning certainty beyond 2030. Industry representatives pledged to reduce electricity generation costs by around thirty percent by 2040 through technological progress and economies of scale, while governments committed to stable regulatory frameworks and coordinated planning.
The summit also placed strong emphasis on the protection of critical infrastructure, including undersea cables, power grids and pipelines, which are increasingly viewed as vulnerable to hybrid threats. German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche underlined that security considerations must go hand in hand with the rapid expansion of renewable energy systems. The involvement of NATO highlighted the growing geopolitical relevance of energy infrastructure in the North Sea region.
Regional leaders stressed that the energy transition should also generate economic benefits for coastal regions, for example through port infrastructure, offshore control centers and the development of hydrogen networks linked to offshore wind production.
Despite ambitious targets, challenges remain, particularly regarding permitting procedures, grid expansion and the speed of implementation. Nevertheless, the Hamburg summit is widely seen as a strategic milestone in European energy policy, reinforcing cooperation among North Sea states and strengthening Europe’s path toward a resilient, renewable and geopolitically independent energy system.
SK
