German offshore drilling protests

In late July 2026, an offshore gas extraction tower was installed near the German island of Borkum, extending drilling activities that already occur in Dutch waters. The project sparked protests organized by Fridays for Future and Deutsche Umwelthilfe, with local stakeholders—including the mayor, restaurant owners, fishermen, and scientists—voicing concerns about the impact on the UNESCO‑listed Wadden Sea.

The following day, attention shifted to the Baltic coast where Canadian firm Central European Petroleum announced plans to explore oil and gas in the Pomeranian Bay near the German island of Usedom. A coalition of German environmental groups—Deutsche Umwelthilfe, BUND Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern, WWF Germany, and the citizen initiative Lebensraum Vorpommern—formed to block the project, gathering around 88,000 signatures for a pan‑European petition to the EU. The alliance warned of potential damage to climate, tourism, and endangered species such as the Baltic humpback whale.

Together, the events illustrate an expanding opposition to offshore drilling across Germany’s North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts, uniting diverse local and transnational environmental actors in legal and public‑campaign actions.