From Policy to Power: Federal Actions to Deliver on America’s Offshore Wind Potential

Climate change poses the biggest threat to our ocean and to the future of the planet. Its harmful impacts can be mitigated by decarbonizing our energy grid. Achieving major carbon emissions reductions in the electricity sector will require development of hundreds of gigawatts of new renewables by 2050, and offshore wind represents the largest ocean-based mitigation opportunity in both the United States and globally.

Offshore wind is a critical part of making a rapid transition to clean energy and has enormous potential to reshape the way that energy is produced in the United States. While the promising future and multiple benefits of offshore wind—energy production, climate mitigation, and economic benefits—are within reach, achieving these sweeping advantages while advancing ocean health is only possible if the current challenges facing the industry are addressed.

Ocean Conservancy and Perkins Coie partnered to outline actionable recommendations that, if implemented, would significantly increase the effectiveness, efficiency, and regulatory certainty of U.S. offshore wind. These recommendations would help achieve the multiple topline priorities for our nation's ocean, coasts, and communities—climate mitigation, conservation, and the equitable accrual of multiple benefits promised from offshore wind development. The recommendations in this report were developed by legal and policy experts and informed by discussions with federal ocean policy experts, federal agency staff, and ocean users. Read the full report.

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