Impacts of the renewable energy transition on global plant diversity: a review

Societal Impact Statement: People and nature need a renewable energy transition to help address the growing, and catastrophic, effects of climate change. A sustainable energy transition involves rigorously examining the potential impacts on nature – including plant life – and creating pathways for impact mitigation that strike a clear balance between energy production and biodiversity conservation. Given the critical roles that plants play in ecosystems, culture, wellbeing and prosperity, including for Indigenous people, their protection must be recognised, upheld and enhanced in the energy transition. This review seeks to chart a course for policymakers, proponents and practitioners to consider plants when planning, designing and implementing renewable energy infrastructure and projects. Summary: A global scale renewable energy transition is now underway, bringing opportunities and challenges for nature, including plant life. Plants form the basis of terrestrial ecosystems and provision of essential ecosystem services; their protection and stewardship must be ensured during the renewable energy transition. Here, we provide a synthesis of the potential impacts of the energy transition on plants. We combine knowledge from research literature in plant ecology, plant biology, sustainability, conservation, spatial planning and social justice with that from policy documents, working papers and environmental assessments for existing renewable developments. The DPSIR method (Drivers, Pressures, State, Impacts, Responses) is used to organise the synthesis, including an examination of the utility of project life cycle assessment for anticipating impacts to plants. Where impacts may negatively affect plants or people, specific calls to action are offered. These include the need to tackle ‘plant blindness’ (i.e., the tendency to overlook, or undervalue plants, compared to animals) in the life cycle of renewable projects – from approval to decommissioning – and the need for Indigenous ownership and benefit sharing. Solutions which can accommodate and enhance plant biodiversity in conjunction with renewable energy projects, including closed-loop or circular renewable design within the landscape, are discussed. Multiple global strategies call for the biodiversity and climate crises to be addressed in tandem (e.g., the Paris Accord, Global Biodiversity Framework, UN Sustainable Development Goals), underscoring the need for a nature-based transition to renewable energy. Plant life must be recognised, valued and secured alongside wider biodiversity to achieve a sustainable future for Earth.