EPB Input to the EC Call for Evidence on the Ocean Act

EPB Calls for Strong Polar Integration in the European Ocean Act

The European Polar Board (EPB) has submitted its contribution to the European Commission’s Call for Evidence on the European Ocean Act, highlighting the need to explicitly integrate the polar regions into EU ocean governance.

In its submission, the EPB underscores that the Arctic and Antarctic function as coupled land–ocean systems that fundamentally shape sea-level rise, ocean circulation, climate feedbacks, and marine biodiversity. These polar processes have direct and growing impacts on European seas, coastal communities, and key economic sectors. Despite their systemic influence, polar dynamics remain largely absent from existing EU maritime governance structures.

The EPB stresses that without incorporating the polar dimension into climate-smart maritime spatial planning and coastal risk management, EU policies risk relying on incomplete projections of sea-level rise, ecosystem change, and hazard exposure.

The EPB also calls for strengthened coordination and sustained investment in European polar observation systems. Improved and year-round polar data collection would enhance forecasting tools such as Copernicus and support science-based decision-making across fisheries, energy, transport, and environmental policy.

By embedding a “One Ocean–One Cryosphere” perspective, the EPB argues, the European Ocean Act can deliver more coherent, credible, and forward-looking ocean governance for Europe.