Overview

• The federal government is moving to fast-track a Unitarization Agreement with the Netherlands dating back to summer 2022 to allow offshore drilling near Borkum.
• The treaty is scheduled for discussion in the federal cabinet next Tuesday, reversing the previous administration’s plan to await judicial rulings before signing.
• Lower Saxony’s Environment Minister Christian Meyer has criticized the move as a gift to fossil fuel interests that conflicts with national climate targets.
• A coalition of environmental groups led by Deutsche Umwelthilfe has filed a lawsuit at the Lüneburg Higher Administrative Court to halt the project over risks to the UNESCO-protected Wadden Sea.
• Operator One-Dyas has already begun gas extraction on the Dutch side of the border, raising concerns that German waters could soon be exploited as well.