Just 1% of coastal waters could power a third of the world’s electricity – but can we do it in time?
By Aleh Cherp, Professor, Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, Central European University
Jessica Jewell, Professor in Technology and Society, Chalmers University of Technology
Tsimafei Kazlou, PhD Candidate, Center for Climate and Energy Transformations, University of Bergen
Just 1% of the world’s coastal waters could, in theory, generate enough offshore wind and solar power to provide a third of the world’s electricity by 2050. That’s the promise highlighted in a new study by a team of scientists in Singapore and China, who systematically mapped the global potential of renewables at sea.
But turning that potential into reality is another story. Scaling up offshore renewables fast enough to seriously dent global emissions faces formidable technical, economic and political…
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Thursday, October 23, 2025