Reconciling Renewable Energy Expansion and Biodiversity Conservation: Ecological Impacts, Trade-offs, and Solutions

The global transition to renewable energy is essential for climate mitigation, yet the rapid, large-scale deployment of solar, wind, hydropower, and associated transmission infrastructure is reshaping landscapes and seascapes with consequences for biodiversity that remain poorly quantified. Habitat loss and fragmentation, collision and displacement of wildlife, disruption of ecological processes, and cumulative effects across regions can place clean-energy goals in tension with conservation commitments.This Research Topic seeks to advance the scientific understanding of how renewable energy expansion affects biodiversity and ecosystems, and of how those impacts can be avoided, minimised, or offset. We aim to move beyond documenting harm toward an evidence base that helps reconcile the energy transition with the protection of nature.We welcome original research, reviews, methods papers, and perspectives addressing, but not limited to:Ecological impacts of solar, wind, hydropower, and transmission infrastructure on species, habitats, and ecosystem processesHabitat loss, fragmentation, and cumulative or landscape-scale effectsMonitoring approaches, indicators, and methods to quantify biodiversity impactsSpatial planning, siting, and mitigation-hierarchy strategies to reduce ecological harmTrade-offs and synergies between climate mitigation and biodiversity conservationPolicy, governance, and economic instruments evaluated against measurable biodiversity outcomesRestoration and biodiversity-positive design of energy landscapesThis collection is grounded in ecological evidence. We are looking for contributions that report measurable outcomes for species, habitats, populations, or ecosystem processes, and that place the ecological mechanism at the centre of the analysis. Planning, policy, engineering and economic perspectives are very welcome where they are brought to bear on that ecological question.By integrating ecological evidence with planning, policy, and economic perspectives, this collection aims to inform energy transitions that are both climate-effective and compatible with safeguarding global biodiversity. Topic editors: Guanglei Yang, Yunfei An, Muyi Yang Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/85105/reconciling-renewable-energy-expansion-and-biodiversity-conservation-ecological-impacts-trade-offs-and-solutions