Nine European nations yesterday vowed to build up North Sea offshore wind power with the aim of boosting climate-friendly energy while reducing dependence on Russia and other foreign powers.

Germany, France, the UK and Denmark were among the countries which signed an agreement pledging to turn the North Sea into the “world’s largest clean energy reservoir”.

The EU’s Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Dan Jorgensen, said at the signing ceremony that the agreement was a “very clear signal to Russia”.

“No more will we let you blackmail member states of the European Union and no more will we help indirectly fund the war in Ukraine”.

The European Union has been scrambling to wean itself off Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Leaders and ministers were meeting in the German port city of Hamburg for the third North Sea summit, after they pledged in 2023 to develop 300 gigawatts of clean energy capacity in the North Sea by mid-century. An intermediate target of 120 GW by 2030 was also set at the time, although experts have said this will not be met on current trends.

The “Hamburg Declaration” signed on Monday envisages that 100 GW of the targeted 300 GW will be quickly delivered through an “unprecedented fleet of joint offshore wind projects”.