The British Ports Association (BPA) says that the United Kingdom's net zero goals could be compromised, as ports are stuck waiting on crucial approvals they need to move forward on offshore wind power projects.

The U.K. has committed to a full transition to net zero emissions by 2050, a timeline the BPA says is threatened by a massive backlog of harbor orders with the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). Those orders give ports the go-ahead to borrow funds, upgrade facilities and build infrastructure. The BPA — which represents 350 ports and facilities — estimates that it would take almost nine years to clear all unprocessed orders, while some ports have already been waiting for up to four years to get sign-offs. 

Although nine harbor orders were processed and approved in 2021, just four have been approved in the last two years. A spokesperson for the MMO tells The Guardian that recent delays were caused by a "large volume" of applications submitted right before increases to harbor order fees in 2022 and 2023. 

“It is extremely regrettable that a single point of failure in processing relatively simple consents at a regulator can threaten billions of pounds of port investment and ultimately put our net zero ambitions at risk,” BPA director of policy and external affairs Mark Simmonds told The Guardian.

A 2023 report from green energy task force RenewableUK said that 11 U.K. ports "will need to be transformed as fast as possible" in order to meet the country's goal to install 34 gigawatts of floating wind power by 2040. The project would cost roughly £4 billion ($5 billion), including work to install turbines on large floating bases manufactured near coastlines.