Biodiversity-Safe Renewable Energy

The global community is confronting a convergence of interlinked and mutually reinforcing crises, climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, and ecosystem decline that together threaten long-term development gains, climate resilience, and human well-being. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Global and Nexus Assessments provide unequivocal evidence that biodiversity loss is accelerating across all regions, undermining the ecosystem services that support climate mitigation and adaptation, water security, food systems, and socio-economic stability. At the same time, the global response to climate change necessitates an unprecedented scale-up of renewable energy infrastructure, with installed capacity projected to triple by 2030 in line with commitments reaffirmed at the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP30) in Belém, Brazil.

While the expansion of renewable energy is indispensable for achieving the Paris Agreement goals, emerging evidence highlights increasing spatial overlap between renewable energy infrastructure and ecologically sensitive landscapes, including grasslands, wetlands, coastal ecosystems, and migratory corridors. Without integrated spatial planning and robust biodiversity safeguards, renewable energy deployment risks generating unintended trade-offs such as habitat fragmentation, ecosystem degradation, cumulative impacts, and heightened vulnerability of climate-exposed communities. The IPBES Nexus Assessment underscores that climate action pursued in sectoral silos can exacerbate biodiversity loss, water stress, and social inequities, whereas integrated, nature-positive approaches can deliver co-benefits across climate, biodiversity, and development objectives.

India’s renewable energy transition exemplifies both the opportunity and urgency for such integration. The national target of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030 will require extensive land transformation, transmission corridors, and material supply chains, often within landscapes already under ecological stress. Ongoing loss of grasslands and wetlands, fragmentation of priority biodiversity areas, and increasing climate variability underscore the need for spatially explicit, risk-informed planning frameworks that safeguard ecosystem integrity while enabling low-carbon development at scale.

A truly sustainable energy transition must therefore move beyond carbon-centric metrics toward nature-positive development pathways. Integrating renewable energy planning with ecological considerations can reduce biodiversity-related risks while creating opportunities for habitat restoration, conservation of priority species, strengthened community stewardship, and alignment with evolving Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) expectations. For industry and utilities, access to credible, science-based guidance across the project lifecycle from early-stage site screening and application of the mitigation hierarchy to Biodiversity Management Plans and long-term monitoring supports improved regulatory compliance, investor confidence, and reputational value.

The proposed IC activity, Biodiversity-Safe Renewable Energy, responds directly to these challenges by advancing an integrated decision-support framework that links renewable energy planning with biodiversity modelling, natural capital assessment, and environmental governance. Aligned with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Nature 2030 vision, the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life Below Water), and SDG 15 (Life on Land) and emerging COP30 priorities. The concept seeks to demonstrate that clean energy expansion and thriving ecosystems can be mutually reinforcing pillars of resilient, inclusive, and nature-positive development. Through interdisciplinary collaboration among ecologists, Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) experts, Artificial Intelligence (AI) scientists, renewable energy developers (power planning and utility stakeholders, especially those enabling large-scale deployment of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), and conservation policymakers, to help in biodiversity risk screening, cumulative impact assessment, and nature-positive design into power system planning, grid expansion, and DER siting decisions. Thus, IC activity will support integration of global and national policy frameworks including the Global Biodiversity Framework (CBD), Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR Principle 6), while strengthening capacity building, community engagement, and innovation in ecological monitoring and reporting.

The IC activity will engage a diverse stakeholder community, including renewable energy companies, ESG-focused corporates, environmental NGOs, research institutions, and government regulators. It will also involve financial institutions, AI–GIS technology providers, and local community groups working on sustainability and conservation. Together, these participants will collaborate on nature-positive renewable energy planning, biodiversity mapping, and improved ESG/TNFD-aligned reporting.

To learn more about the program and how to join Biodiversity-Safe Renewable Energy activity, please express your interest by completing the Biodiversity-Safe Renewable Energy interest form.