Renewable Energy and Land Use

In 2024, there were still 666 million people who lacked access to electricity and 2.1 billion people who still relied on traditional biomass for cooking. The worldwide shift toward cleaner energy sources is rapidly gaining momentum. By 2024, renewable energy supplied 29.9% of electricity generated globally, made up 46% of total installed generating capacity, and represented more than 90% of all newly added capacity. Solar energy alone grew by an unprecedented 29%, maintaining its pattern of doubling its total global capacity roughly every three years. This growth is expected to speed up even more as major sectors such as industry and transportation transition to electrification to cut greenhouse gas emissions. As a result, electricity’s share of overall energy use is projected to rise from 25% in 2023 to 55% by 2050, supporting the goals of the Paris Agreement to limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

At the same time, costs for renewable sources of energy continue to decline. For instance, the price of solar energy has fallen by roughly 85%–90% since 2010, turning it into one of the most affordable electricity sources in many regions by 2024. Meanwhile, advances such as battery storage systems and modern grid management technologies are also becoming less expensive, supporting the reliable and practical integration of variable renewable sources like solar and wind power. The potential benefits of renewable energy, especially in undeveloped tropical countries seemingly caught in a desperate cycle of poverty, are immense.

Many actions are needed, such as sound policies, governance and regulatory frameworks, financial incentives that attract direct investment, capacity building, particularly at the local level, and protection of community tenure rights. In addition, though, it is necessary to address the dilemma of land use, as renewable forms of energy have a larger land footprint than traditional fossil sources of energy. Solar power uses roughly twice the land area of coal for the same electricity output, while wind power can need up to twelve times as much land. This footprint comes not only from the direct taking of land, but also from the infrastructure required (e.g., access roads, transmission lines, power substations), which can have an adverse effect on the local ecology. Excessive land use is not the only negative component of renewable energy. The extraction and procurement of essential metals, such as cobalt, copper, lithium and coltan, to name just a few, can be destructive to the rights of Indigenous communities, human health and the environment.

However, these land use estimates account for the spacing required between solar panels and wind turbines, but much of the land between them can still be used for other purposes. Furthermore, the land use factor ebbs in contrast to the underground impacts of activities related to geothermal, natural gas, and coal mining, which can disturb water cycles and soil integrity.

The authors of this report recommend a number of actions that can mitigate land misuse or deterioration. Dual land-use systems enable energy production while also supporting other goals like food security, biodiversity conservation, land restoration, and climate change mitigation. Renewable energy projects can be set up on previously degraded land, such as abandoned farms, unused buildings, canals, and reservoirs. A practice called Integrated Landscape Management (ILM) integrates renewable energy facilities with sustainable farming, such as regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, and silvopastoralism, which can increase food production, enhance drought resilience, conserve biodiversity, and reduce post-harvest losses. Land degradation can be reversed by building solar and wind farms, where through shading or wind protection, clean energy can be provided while promoting soil health and vegetation growth under the solar panels. Bioenergy can be produced by harvesting invasive species or cultivating feedstock on marginal or degraded land.

Sustainable Land Management (SLM) involves the responsible use of land resources—such as soil, water, plants, and animals—to meet evolving human needs. At the same time, it focuses on preserving the long-term productivity and health of these resources, ensuring their ability to continue supporting future generations. These goals can be achieved even with renewable energy’s larger land footprint if all facets of land use are integrated in a productive and sustainable manner.

Photo: Solar farm in Lincoln, NE, courtesy of American Public Power Association available via Unsplash.