Date: October 16, 2023

Place:  Online, -

Description of the event: 

Workshop Rationale

The question ‘What does a fossil fuel free blue economy look like? How can we as a community support this transition?’ was originally posed to members of the European Blue Forum as a panel session at the official launch event on 26th May 2023 in Brest, France. This deliberately broad question was designed to give all sustainable blue economy stakeholders the opportunity to share the challenges they face, as well as their needs for the future, regardless of the sector or type of organisation they represent.   

The launch event panel session introduced the question and gathered a broad range of responses, however mostly using SLIDO polls which limited the ability of stakeholders to share details and sectoral nuances. 

 

Workshop Objective and Deliverable

The objective of this ‘Deep-Dive’ workshop is to allow members of the European Blue Forum to discuss the challenges and obstacles they are facing and their unique aspirations and requirements in decarbonising their sector, and eventually transitioning towards a fossil fuel free sustainable blue economy in the future.  

 

The output from this workshop will be the production of a stakeholder position paper, providing the perspectives of the entire European sustainable blue economy stakeholder group - our Blue Community.

Target Audience and Expected Inputs

This workshop will gather information from stakeholders of all sectors, geographical scales and representing different kinds of organisation.  

Whether you represent the marine renewable energy industry, ship owners and operators, fisheries or recreational sailing, we welcome your views. We invite you to apply, regardless of whether you operate as an individual, represent a large corporation, or work in a government department. We ask that you come prepared to the workshop, having read the briefing paper that will be published in September. The workshop will last for four hours, and participants are requested to participate actively throughout.

Although we would like to include all our members in the workshop, for logistical reasons that is unlikely to be possible and numbers will be limited to approximately 60-80 participants. If you want to be part of the workshop, you will need to complete the application form here. 

 

Selection Process

We will ensure that the workshop is as inclusive as possible, giving the opportunity to participate to as many stakeholders, representing as many sectors and geographical regions as we can. When you apply, you will be asked to inform us of the sector(s), geographical region(s) and the type of organisation you represent. You will also be asked to identify your preferred two breakout rooms and what value you believe you can bring to your preferred rooms. The selection will be made on this basis, together with the confirmation of your availability to actively participate for the full duration of the workshop. Selection will need to be finalised by early September, so please register as soon as you can.

Every effort will be made to respect the breakout room preferences of applicants, however, as part of the organisation of the workshop, we will need to ensure approximately equal numbers and representation across the rooms.

Engaging the Wider Community

To ensure the position paper resulting from this workshop represents as many of our European Blue Forum members as possible, recordings of the entire workshop will be made available. In addition, all members will be invited to provide their comments and feedback to the discussions that take place.

Type: Open