COWI study on impact assessment for marine knowledge - revised interim report

Work undertaken since submission of the interim report

The interim report of Marine Knowledge 2020 was submitted to DG MARE on the 3rd of December. Since then comments to the interim report have been received from DG MARE, DG ENV, the European Wind Energy Association and the International Oil and Gas Producers Association. The interim report has been revised on the basis of these comments as well as additional data received.

The revised report can be downloaded here

In detail the following work has been undertaken since submission of the interim report:

• The European Sea Ports Organisation submitted information regarding licensing practices for port operators from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark and the port of La Rochelle in France to the section on the facilitation of use of marine data. This information was incorporated in the revised interim report.
• The International Oil and Gas Producers Association provided comments on the interim report. Part of these comments have been incorporated in the revised interim report, the remaining ones will feed into the final report.
• On the questionnaire regarding obligations of licensees to hand-over marine data replies had been received from licensing authorities in 12 countries. A reminder email has been sent to the licensing authorities in those countries that did not provide replies. This reminder email contained the original licensing questionnaire amended with some clarifications as suggested in the comments to the interim report.
• Answers from MSFD Competent Authorities (CAs) in 12 countries have been received so far. Not all Competent Authorities were able to provide cost estimates. On the basis of the comments received from DG ENV the MSFD questionnaire has been modified.
• The European Wind Energy Association provided comments to the section on offshore wind farms in the interim report. Some of these comments have already been incorporated in the revised version of the interim report and the remaining ones will feed into the final report.

Focus for the coming months

 The coming month will concentrate on additional data collection, the incorporation of all received comments and the further development of all sections of the report. Regarding the 8 components of the report the priorities will be the following:

Private sector licensing practices

The priority in this section will lie on following-up on the questionnaires and on collection of replies from those industry associations that have not yet provided any. We are in close contact with the European Sea Ports Organisation that provided first replies to a simplified introduction questionnaire and will follow-up to collect more detailed and additional replies.

In addition to the questions contained in the questionnaire we will put emphasis on collecting information from the private sector regarding costs for the hand-over of data in line with question 4q) of the Terms of Reference.

Data hand-over obligations

A reminder email has been sent to those licensing authorities that have not provided replies to the questionnaire yet. The focus for the coming months will lie on following up on these reminders and collecting data from more licensing authorities. In the final report the section on data hand-over obligations will have increased emphasis on the analysis of replies received from the licensing authorities, i.e. the data tables will be supplemented by an analysis and discussion of the data.

To be able to do so and to clarify on some of the received replies we will take direct contact to a sample of licensing authorities in order to follow up and collect additional information. The access database will continuously be updated with any received additional data.

MSFD

In the section on MSFD related costs the focus will lie on collecting data from more countries and on clarifying the received replies. We have modified the questionnaire according to the comments and suggestions received from DG ENV. We will cooperate with both DG ENV and DG MARE in the finalization of this modified questionnaire and in submitting it to the relevant authorities. Whether the reminder/updated questionnaire is to be sent by DG ENV or COWI directly will be decided.

We will furthermore put emphasis on verifying with the CAs the information already received to get a better clarity on the comparability of costs. Whether this is to be done by COWI or DG ENV is also to be decided.

Offshore wind

The offshore wind section is quite far developed and the focus for the coming months will lie on developing the paragraphs on costs for hydrographical and for bathymetry/geophysics and geotechnical data. Extensive comments have been received from the European Wind Energy Association and these will be incorporated in the final report as well as any additional data and comments.

Legal basis

The section on the legal basis will be developed further after close consultation with DG MARE and on basis of the received comments.

The legal part is not expected to be substantially changed. Issues like a possible future revision of the INSPIRE Directive will be elaborated.

Innovation

In the section on innovation from marine knowledge three more case studies will be identified and developed. These cases studies will be in field of insurance, bio economy and other sectors. Some examples of case studies have already been identified, in the area of insurance and innovation in offshore structures, and these will be further developed and finalised, taking into account feedback from various sources, such as the European Wind Energy Association. Comments from DG MARE on the interim report will be used to further specify the existing case studies.

Furthermore, we will validate and finalise the case studies already developed through interviews and written feedback from experts identified during discussions and the documentary review phase. A strong focus will be made on quantifying the economic benefits for each case study where possible, primarily based on extrapolation of small scale impacts that have been measured through existing studies.

Reduced uncertainty

The section on economic benefits from reduced uncertainty is quite well developed. The interim report provided draft case studies of five examples initially identified. For the final report, three of these examples will be developed further, according to the quality of information, strength of argument, and ability to quantify the benefits.

Governance

Just as the section on the legal basis the governance section will be developed further after close consultation with DG MARE and on basis of the received comments.