Nations bordering the Baltic Sea agreed on Tuesday to increase offshore wind capacity sevenfold by the end of the decade.
The agreement was announced at a summit attended by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and ministers and lawmakers from Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden, which all border the Baltic Sea.
"We share a great potential for offshore wind," Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said at an energy summit in Copenhagen. "As long as we depend on fossil fuels, we are vulnerable."
The Baltic Sea currently has 2.8 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity installed, with almost all of it in Danish and German waters. However, the EU's Nordic countries are still highly dependent on fossil fuel for their energy consumption.
The decision by the Baltic nations has thus been perceived as part of the EU's commitment to wean itself off Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine...