Value of Marine Artificial Structures

Strategic management of MArine ARTificial structures and their Values (SMART-Values)
Our Vision: A just, nature-positive, and economically efficient energy transition that enhances biodiversity and safeguards ecosystem services, including fisheries and carbon sequestration
Thousands of marine artificial structures (MAS) have been installed in the marine environment, including for oil and gas, offshore wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and storage and compensatory measures. With Net Zero aspirations driving a shift towards low carbon technology, the number of MAS is set to grow exponentially, with aging structures set for decommissioning. As these structures have significant footprints at all life-cycle stages this transition will inevitably lead to environmental, social, and economic trade-offs.
There is an evident risk that our actions to address the climate crisis could exacerbate the biodiversity crisis, and also lead to a range of detrimental impacts across wider sectors. This tension is recognised, for example by  Clean Power 2030: Action Plan: A new era of clean electricity, “the government is committed to accelerating to net zero, to delivering clean power by 2030, and also to restoring nature”, and The Crown Estate’s Marine Delivery Route map which aims to “incentivise best environmental practice”. To address this risk there is a need to better understand the economic, social and ecological values of MAS, how they are embedded in governance structures, and how these values change under realistic future scenarios.
Previous research has demonstrated the importance of repurposing and designing MAS to contribute to carbon removal and biodiversity targets. However, evidence gaps remain including impacts on ecological functioning and cumulative effects, and interactions with climate change, fisheries, cross-industry marine management, and social priorities.
SMART-Values builds on previous and ongoing research to address these gaps, harmonising the energy...