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Key project outputs

A case studies story map

The story map “Green energy meets blue food – Moving towards sustainable coexistence? Six cases exploring trade-offs in the use of marine space” presents six case studies examining the coexistence of the green energy sector and blue food production, with a particular focus on offshore wind development and fishing.

Nordregio (2025a)

The cases explore the role of governance frameworks, such as marine and maritime spatial planning, in managing competing interests and promoting long-term sustainable coexistence.

The studies emphasise the importance of actors and their interactions, highlighting challenges, drivers and opportunities for collaboration. In-depth interviews with key stakeholders across all countries, conducted in 2024, provide insights into how conflicts and synergies are addressed across different geographical and governance contexts. The cases cover Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Scotland, where offshore energy developments and marine food production – particularly fisheries – often claim shared marine areas and/or sea basins.

The case findings indicate that coexistence between offshore wind and fishing – particularly commercial fishing – may be achievable but requires fundamental shifts in planning approaches. Success depends on early collaboration, transparent governance, high-quality data and a genuine commitment to balancing green energy ambitions with blue economy needs. Countries like Norway demonstrate that structured dialogue and clear principles can facilitate coexistence between these sectors, while cases like Sweden highlight the challenges that arise when such frameworks are absent.

Key findings include:

Challenges in governance: Conflicting priorities between offshore wind and fisheries, fragmented governance structures and limited coordination, particularly between MSP and permitting processes, are recurring issues. In most cases, governments lack transparent long-term strategies, creating uncertainty for both sectors.
Opportunities for collaboration: Early engagement, transparent dialogue and co-designed consultation processes are effective ways to balance competing interests. A common challenge is that fisheries are often consulted only after wind farm locations have been determined, limiting the influence of their input.
Role of spatial planning: MSP is critical for mediating conflicts, identifying suitable areas for development and integrating environmental, economic and social objectives. However, weak guidance in spatial plans, together with parallel permitting processes in several countries, creates governance gaps and uncertainty for both offshore development and fisheries actors.
Lessons and transferable insights: Experiences across different countries reveal practical strategies for improving governance, fostering collaboration and enabling adaptive management of evolving marine uses. Examples include Finland’s participatory planning approach, Norway’s coexistence manual and Scotland’s best practice guidance for fisheries assessment and offshore wind development.

The story map provides actionable insights for policymakers, practitioners and researchers, supporting the refinement of policies and governance frameworks that reconcile multiple interests in marine spaces. These findings contribute to the “Green Energy Meets Blue Food” project’s objective of promoting sustainable coexistence, building a resilient marine economy and fostering inclusive decision-making across the Nordic Region and beyond.

A Nordic knowledge exchange workshop

The two-day workshop, “Nordic workshop on sustainable coexistence: Offshore wind & blue food”, hosted by Nordregio in May 2025, as part of the “Green Meets Blue” project, explored how countries in the Nordic Region can advance towards sustainable coexistence in the Nordic seas, with a focus on enhanced collaboration between offshore wind energy and marine food production sectors, in particular fisheries.

The workshop brought together key stakeholders from across the Nordic Region to discuss challenges and opportunities in stakeholder engagement and collaboration throughout the offshore wind development process, from area designation in marine spatial plans to construction, operation, decommissioning and long-term management. Discussions focused on engagement and dialogue between green and blue sectors through this complex, often fragmented process, examining opportunities for sustainable coexistence at different stages. It was clear that collaboration needs vary by phase, but what actors need are continuity, sustained relationships and clear expectations throughout the entire lifecycle of offshore wind development.

Key findings include:

Challenges in collaboration: Stakeholders highlighted difficulties in maintaining continuous, structured dialogue across sectors, particularly during early planning and permitting. Limited resources, fragmented governance and unclear leadership further impede collaboration. Additional challenges include insufficient knowledge of cumulative environmental impacts, climate uncertainties and transboundary considerations. Treating each step in isolation reduces transparency and complicates holistic planning.
Pathways for improved engagement: Stronger collaboration can be achieved through early, iterative engagement with all relevant stakeholders. Co-designed consultation processes, structured dialogue platforms and neutral mediator-led forums foster trust and reduce conflicts. Clear communication of planning goals, trade-offs and expected outcomes, along with integration of environmental, economic, social and cultural considerations from the outset, is essential.
Knowledge exchange and learning: Nordic countries use different approaches to balance offshore wind and fisheries, offering opportunities for mutual learning. Norway emphasises structured dialogue guidelines, while Sweden uses cumulative impact tools like Symphony and Denmark employs centralised permitting. Exchanging experiences allows countries to adapt governance models, consultation practices and technical solutions to their own contexts.
Governance and policy options: Adaptive governance and flexible regulatory frameworks are needed to manage uncertainties and cumulative impacts. Formalised collaboration mechanisms, such as structured committees, neutral mediation platforms and “one-stop-shop” permitting authorities, can ensure accountability and continuity. Government leadership is key to decoupling developer-led processes from decision-making and systematically incorporating stakeholder expertise.
Contribution to a Nordic roadmap: The workshop generated input for a Nordic Roadmap for Collaboration, emphasising binding, iterative engagement processes from strategic planning through decommissioning. Co-design principles, adaptive, data-driven governance, cross-country learning and harmonised regulatory frameworks were highlighted.

Overall, the workshop facilitated a shared understanding of engagement challenges, identified practical pathways for collaboration and contributed to strengthening cross-Nordic networks to support coordinated and sustainable decision-making in the marine sector.

A policy brief

The “How can offshore wind energy and fisheries sustainably coexist in the Nordic Seas?” policy brief examines how offshore wind energy expansion in the Nordic Region can coexist with more traditional fisheries. Offshore wind introduces large, static infrastructure into marine areas historically used for mobile fishing practices, creating tensions over space, regulation and sectoral priorities. These tensions arise not only from spatial competition, but also from contrasting values, different operational practices and fundamentally different relationships with the marine environment. All this plays out within fragmented and inconsistent political, planning and permitting systems. The implication is that long-lasting coexistence requires structures for continuous and meaningful collaboration, not just technical spatial solutions.

The policy brief builds on previous findings from the project, including case studies and workshop outcomes.

Three interconnected key governance challenges include:

Political volatility: Shifting national priorities, subsidies and regulations undermine trust and cross-sector collaboration.
Limitations of marine and maritime spatial planning frameworks: Unclear mandates on deliverables, inconsistent stakeholder engagement and limited cumulative impact assessments complicate coordination.
Fragmented permitting: Project-specific approvals, overlapping legal frameworks and late stakeholder involvement reduce transparency, increase uncertainty and heighten conflict.

The policy brief identifies four building blocks for enabling coexistence:

Structured dialogue: Sustained and institutionalised platforms or forums with skilled facilitation and guidelines foster trust and joint problem-solving.
Participatory planning culture: Iterative, inclusive and responsive planning processes – with dedicated coordinators, feedback loops and accessible information throughout – strengthen legitimacy and responsiveness.
Knowledge foundations: Early, broad and inclusive impact assessments that integrate ecological, economic and social data across multiple scales – including enhanced cumulative and ecosystem-based assessments – support balanced and informed decision-making.
Institutional pathways: Centralised permitting and strategically phased governance – in which public authorities lead early planning, knowledge collection and stakeholder engagement – reduce delays and clarify responsibilities.

Recommendation
The policy brief recommends establishing a Nordic-level dialogue platform to navigate sectoral tensions, align governance better, share lessons and develop tools to support sustainable coexistence between offshore wind and fisheries, balancing energy, ecological, economic and social objectives. Such a platform would focus on the four themes above. The brief includes guiding questions that can be used to initiate a Nordic dialogue.