DECOMMISSIONING: "To What Extent Can Decommissioning Options for Marine Artificial Structures Move Us Toward Environmental Targets?" - Knights et al., 2024
In light of global biodiversity and climate crises, the question of how infrastructural decommissioning processes can be aligned with overarching environmental goals is gaining increasing relevance. The article "To What Extent Can Decommissioning Options for Marine Artificial Structures Move Us Toward Environmental Targets?" by Knights et al. (2024) provides a groundbreaking analysis precisely at this intersection of infrastructure policy and ecological transformation. For the first time, the authors systematically examine how various options for offshore infrastructure decommissioning – from full removal to the retention of artificial structures in the ocean – can contribute to the achievement of international biodiversity and sustainability targets.
Combining innovative modelling with an interdisciplinary assessment framework, the study compellingly demonstrates that, depending on the context, so-called “leave-in-place” solutions can offer ecological benefits – such as enhancing marine biodiversity, providing habitat structures, or protecting against industrial fishing. At the same time, it becomes clear that blanket removal obligations pose the risk of unnecessarily destroying valuable ecosystem services – potentially undermining environmental objectives such as those of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity or the EU Green Deal. Knights et al. advocate for evidence-based, context-specific decision-making in the selection of decommissioning strategies.
Their contribution is a call for the integration of ecological objectives into infrastructure practice – and simultaneously offers a scientifically grounded framework for strategically aligning future decommissioning decisions with environmental goals. In doing so, the study sets new benchmarks for sustainable marine governance in the 21st century.