The difficult combination between Biodiversity and the rise of renewable energies

Developing renewable energy while preserving biodiversity is a fundamental challenge at a time when Switzerland is embarking on the construction of alpine solar parks. Between June 2023 and September 2024, supported by the Center for Climate Impact and Action of UNIL & EPFL (CLIMACT), a group of researchers, including experts in climate, renewable energy and biodiversity, set out to review all the scientific literature published on these topics. Their goal was to determine how to combine these three key societal objectives: climate action, energy security and ecological integrity.

The five key points of this report, called “Accelerating renewable energy development while enhancing biodiversity protection in Switzerland” :

1️⃣

If some still doubt it, the experts remind us that Switzerland’s biodiversity is in danger. The country’s exceptional diversity of ecosystems and species is insufficiently protected and increasingly threatened. The causes of the problem are known: industrial agriculture, urban sprawl and road construction (fragmentation, soil sealing). In fragile alpine areas, transport and construction activities are also causing increasingly significant damage.

2️⃣

The other element, put into perspective in this report, concerns renewable energy. The authors remind us that large-scale deployment of renewable energy (RE) will be necessary to progressively eliminate fossil fuels and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. “One of the main challenges is to fill the winter energy gap, which could best be achieved through photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy in the Alps, complementing existing hydropower and PV in the lowlands, on infrastructure and intensively used spaces.”

3️⃣

This brings us to the main problem: how to combine the development of renewable energy without too many harmful consequences for biodiversity? Indeed, one does not go without the other. Healthy biodiversity and intact ecosystems help regulate our climate, mitigate climate change and provide a wide range of other ecosystem services.

Maps of temperature deviations since 1864. Source: MeteoSwiss

4️⃣

Among the recommendations proposed in the report, one stands out: a coordinated approach at cantonal, national and international levels. “Democracy, participation and oversight procedures are essential for the legitimacy of the implementation measures for RE expansion in Switzerland. These procedures must be strengthened and not bypassed in the name of urgency. Nevertheless, approval procedures must be significantly streamlined and accelerated.”

5️⃣

At the local level, the experts consider it essential “to involve communities to succeed in energy transitions and biodiversity protection”. At the national level, they call in particular for a reassessment of the minimum size of nationally important projects in order to allow the inclusion of smaller projects on less critical sites. This includes, for example, carefully selecting sites accessible without new roads, ideally using already degraded sites and excluding areas important for biodiversity.

In conclusion, CLIMACT experts believe that it will not be enough to minimize the impacts of new sources of sustainable energy, but that it will also be necessary to reduce the harmful effects of existing human activities and infrastructure. “This implies stopping and reversing the most damaging activities, and undertaking ecological restoration in order to achieve a net gain for biodiversity and thus mitigate climate change.”

Reference: RE-BD AR2024. Accelerating renewable energy development while enhancing biodiversity protection in Switzerland

EDITORS
Sascha Nick, Antoine Guisan, Alejandra Morán-Ordóñez and Christophe Ballif

LEAD AUTHORS
Sascha Nick, Caroline Martin, Antoine Guisan, Yohann Chauvier-Mendes, Christophe Ballif, Franz-Josef Haug, Alejandra Morán-Ordóñez, Laura
Ferrarello and Valérie Dupont

This article has been automatically translated using AI. If you notice any errors, please don't hesitate to contact us.

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