Lack of national political will is driving European seas to the brink

CCB • June 25, 2020

Today, the European Commission published a report assessing the progress with the implementation of the EU’s Marine Directive [1], adopted in 2008. The report comes out just as the European Environment Agency paints a dire picture of the state of European seas in its new Marine report. Marine life, from seabed to sea birds, is suffering: 79% of the EU’s coastal seabed is damaged by bottom-trawling, up to 53% of sharks, rays and skates are threatened by bycatch and marine mammals’ condition has been in sharp decline since 2009.

For 12 years, European countries have had the legal obligation to take all the necessary measures to achieve clean and healthy seas by 2020. It is clear however that EU countries will miss the deadline and fail to meet the legally binding objective. Yet, the Marine Directive is instrumental to achieving the EU’s conservation goals at sea, recently set in the EU Biodiversity Strategy under the wider strategy of the European Green Deal , as well as the EU’s global commitments under Sustainable Development Goal 14 ‘Life Below Water’. 

The Commission highlights a number of successes stemming from the Directive, which was at the forefront of the ocean plastic pollution battle, leading to the adoption of the Single-Use Plastics Directive. Many other threats, however, remain without ambitious plans for action by the Member States. The poor implementation of the Marine Directive also means that the Maritime Spatial Plans that countries are now finalising are built on a faulty environmental basis, and that blue growth remains essentially unbridled. 

“Ever since its adoption in 2012, blue NGOs have denounced the inherent incompatibility of Europe’s Blue Growth Strategy with the goals of protecting and restoring the marine natural world”, says Ann Dom, Deputy Director at Seas At Risk. “We are happy to see that the European Commission is also coming to the same realisation in today’s report.”

Seas At Risk, ClientEarth, Coalition Clean Baltic, OceanCare and Surfrider Foundation Europe urge Member States to take immediate measures to address some of the most imminent threats to marine ecosystems , including – but not limited to – stopping overfishing and destructive fishing practices, closing the plastic pollution tap, protecting 30% of EU seas in highly or fully protected areas, stopping the flow of industrial, agricultural and household contaminated waters into the sea, banning offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation, reducing the speed of ships and ending container loss at sea. 

“EU seas are in a dire state, yet Member States keep tinkering around the edges of what is needed to make substantial progress”, says Alice Belin, senior marine policy officer at Seas At Risk. “With the 2020 deadline missed, we expect EU countries to adopt as soon as possible even more ambitious measures to make up for lost time. And if they are lacking inspiration, we encourage them to look at the NGO’s Blue Manifesto [2] the rescue plan to save the ocean by 2030.”   

While an analysis of the failures to meet the law’s objective is welcome, the organisations object to any changes to the law. All indications, including today’s report, point to the Member States’ lack of political commitment as well as cross-governmental and cross-country coordination as the key reasons for lack of progress. This will not be fixed by changing the legal text, but rather by stepping up implementation and taking legal action against non-compliant Member States.   

“Ground-breaking legislation, such as the Marine Directive, is used by the EU and its Member States to showcase the EU’s environmental credentials on the global stage” says ClientEarth’s Marine Habitats Lawyer, John Condon. “But when it comes to actually applying those laws to protect the environment, this report once again shows that EU countries are found wanting. Their legal obligation to achieve clean and healthy seas is not debatable. We urge the Commission to prepare legal action against countries who are failing to respect this important law.” 

“The lack of commitment by all Ministries, not only those in charge of protecting the sea, means that coasts and seas remain plagued by the harmful impacts of ever-growing maritime sectors and land-based plastic, agricultural, industrial and household pollution”, says Nils Höglund, Marine and Fisheries Policy Officer at Coalition Clean Baltic. “We need cross-governmental task forces put in place to have a fair chance at tackling all the cumulative pressures on our seas and ocean.”

“ The Marine Directive presents concrete opportunities to improve EU waters’ health by taking into consideration local and regional contexts. It provides Member States with an incentive and obligations to address a broad range of major ocean challenges, such as plastic, chemical pollution, climate change, etc. and we are extremely disappointed that so many countries have completely ignored it”, says Antidia Citores, Spokesperson at Surfrider Foundation Europe.

“Quieter oceans through banning oil and gas exploration, which involve the loudest noise generated activities by humans, and by reducing the speed of large shipping vessels are measures that also contribute to climate action. Such measures and their positive impact to reach set objectives are consistent with all agreed policies, so what are most governments waiting for?” says Nicolas Entrup, Co-Director International Relations at OceanCare.

Notes

Contacts

Alice Belin, Senior Marine Policy Officer at Seas At Risk, +32 470 04 82 97 abelin@seas-at-risk.org  

Bianca Vergnaud, Senior Communications Officer at ClientEarth, +32 471 88 70 95, bvergnaud@clientearth.org

 Nils Höglund, Fisheries Policy Officer at Coalition Clean Baltic, +46 70 867 92 49, nils.hoglund@ccb.se

Antidia Citores, Spokesperson at Surfrider Foundation Europe, +33632689036, acitores@surfrider.eu  

Nicolas Entrup, Co-Director International Relation at OceanCare, + 43 660 211 9963, nentrup@oceancare.org   

COP30 brings ocean and water to the center of climate policy

By CCB • December 5, 2025
In Belém, in the heart of the Amazon, the 2025 UN Climate Change Conference COP30 immediately set the bar high. In his opening speech, Brazilian President Lula da Silva stressed that climate change is no longer a "threat to the future", but a tragedy that the world is already experiencing here and now, and called on countries to accelerate actions rather than limit themselves to promises. However, as is often the case in COP meetings, the political reality turned out to be more complicated than ambitions. Negotiations were difficult: the countries could not agree on a clear and binding plan to phase out fossil fuels. It is important to note that the Global Action Plan has provided a platform for discussing the development of a roadmap for phasing out fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change. At the same time, COP30 has brought tangible progress in other areas: the countries agreed to triple the amount of adaptation funding for developing countries by 2035, strengthened the forest and ocean agenda, and expanded the range of practical initiatives under the Action Agenda . COP30 consolidated the trend: from "water at the center of the climate crisis" to a holistic ocean agenda closely related to energy, food, biodiversity and sustainable coastal development. From the COP29 Water Declaration to the COP30 Enhanced Ocean Water Program At COP29 in Baku, the Declaration on Water for Climate Action was adopted , with the aim to applying comprehensive approaches to combating the causes and consequences of climate change for water basins, emphasizing also the need to integrate water-related mitigation and adaptation measures into national climate policies, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). COP30 did not reverse this logic, but expanded it towards the ocean and coasts. Both processes "aquatic" and "oceanic" are moving in the same direction: integration of water, coasts and ocean into the climate plans of countries; development of nature-based solutions; strengthening transboundary management of water and marine systems; recognizing adaptation as an equal part of climate policy, rather than an "adjunct" to emissions reduction. Task Force on Oceans and the Blue NDC Challenge The international Task Force on Oceans , led by Brazil and France, was officially presented at the high-level ministerial meeting "From Ambition to Implementation: Delivering on Ocean Commitments" on 18 November, integrating oceans into a global mechanism to accelerate the incorporation of marine solutions into national climate plans. The Blue Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Challenge encourages countries to set ocean protection targets when updating their NDCs. The goal is to transition the Blue NDC Challenge into an Implementation Task Force. Members of the Blue NDC Challenge, currently 17 countries, can adopt a broad set of actions aimed at the protection and sustainable use of the oceans.These measures include the sustainable management, conservation, and restoration of coastal and marine ecosystems, supported by tools such as marine spatial planning, integrated coastal zone management, and climate-aligned marine protected areas. Countries are also encouraged to support sustainable and climate-resilient fishing and aquaculture, ensuring ocean health and long-term food security. B razil has set a clear example: its updated NDC includes a separate chapter on the ocean and coastal zones. For the first time, the national climate plan (Plano Clima) until 2035 includes a thematic adaptation plan for these areas. Priorities include the completion of national Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) by 2030 and major programs for the conservation and restoration of mangroves and coral reefs (ProManguezal, ProCoral).

Pathway to Tox-Free Living: Policy and Action

By CCB • November 24, 2025
Leading scientists, consumer advocates and policymakers gathered on November, 18th in Brussels for the conference "From Evidence to Policy: Toward a Tox free Living Environment" . They warned that exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in homes and consumer products represents a silent but severe public health and economic crisis. New findings presented to over 65 participants by the EU Baltic Sea Interreg project NonHazCity3 , LIFE ChemBee and the ToxFree LIFE for All projects as well as revealed widespread contamination of European households by complex chemical mixtures of hormone system disrupting substances (so called endocrine disrupters – EDCs) that contribute to chronic disease and impose enormous health costs. According to the key note speaker Dr. Aleksandra Rutkowska, the home environment is a significant source of exposure to EDCs through indoor air, dust and daily contact with common products. Current research links such exposure to a shocking amount of lifestyle diseases including 22 cancer outcomes, 18 metabolic disorder outcomes and 17 cardiovascular disease outcomes. Scientists also stressed that the crisis spans generations. EDCs trigger epigenetic changes that not only affect today’s population but also future children and even grandchildren. Other effects include reproduction disorders. Over the last decade, 150 million babies were born preterm, and evidence shows that reducing the use of plastics by half could cut the risk of preterm birth by half as well.