BRUSSELS — A North Sea coalition of nine countries Monday committed to develop the North Sea into the world’s largest green energy power plant.

The North Sea Summit brought together heads of state or government and the energy ministers of Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom in the Belgian coastal town of Ostend Tuesday afternoon at the invitation of Belgium.

The Ostend Declaration released after the summit said “our common endeavor is to produce European renewable energy from the North Seas, including offshore wind and renewable hydrogen, contributing to competitive energy prices, climate neutrality and energy security.”

“We will jointly develop The North Seas as a Green Power Plant of Europe, an offshore renewable energy system connecting our countries with a particular focus on joint hybrid/ multi-purpose and cross-border offshore projects and hubs, offshore wind and renewable hydrogen production,” it said.

Underlining that energy security and the fight against climate change are crucial to the future of Europe, the Declaration said, “We need to strengthen our cooperation to ensure affordable, secure and sustainable energy, while at the same time, continuing our efforts to protect the marine ecosystem.”

“We will accelerate our efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption as well as dependence on fossil fuel imports and promote the rapid upscaling and deployment of renewable energy for an energy resilient Europe and guarantee the resilience of our offshore energy infrastructure,” it stressed.

“Together, we have set ambitious combined targets for offshore wind of at least 120 GW by 2030 in the North Seas. Based on the North Seas as a Green Power Plant of Europe, together we aim to more than double our total 2030-capacity of offshore wind to at least 300 GW by 2050,” it noted.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who also attended the North Sea summit said, “Green hydrogen can be the game changer for Europe, our industries and our economy. And the North Sea region has the potential to produce massive amounts of green hydrogen and to become the main corridor for imports.” — Kuna