In 2023, world leaders pledged to triple global renewable energy capacity by the end of this decade at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai. Meeting this goal will require an unprecedented buildout of renewable energy projects, both in speed and in scale. And all of those projects are going to require a whole lot of land, presenting serious challenges for land use strategies.
The kind of utility-scale solar and wind farms that will be necessary to meet internationally binding climate goals require huge amounts of undeveloped land. “Utility-scale solar and wind farms require at least ten times as much space per unit of power as coal- or natural gas–fired power plants, including the land used to produce and transport the fossil fuels,” says a 2022 report from global consulting powerhouse McKinsey & Company. “Wind turbines are often placed half a mile apart, while large solar farms span thousands of acres.”
And,…
