The recent COP28 commitment to triple renewable energy capacity by the end of the decade is a welcome but ambitious target that will require rapid scaling of renewables.

REN21’s Renewable Energy and Sustainability Report (RESR) maps and analyses the potential downsides of such rapid advantages that can emerge from such scaling up renewables including critical issues such as land and water use, biodiversity, forests, human rights, critical materials and waste generation, and provides mitigations that will allow the continued reduction of destructive processes with minimal impact.

The average median emissions of all renewable energy technologies, from a life-cycle perspective, are much lower than those of fossil gas and coal, respectively. While fossil fuel operations and their extraction sites leave land polluted, degraded and depleted long after the facilities are decommissioned, renewables do not have the same long-term impacts on land and water. In addition, most renewable energy installations can co-exist with other uses like agriculture or fishing, can be deployed on degraded or former industrial, contaminated and marginal land, and materials
extracted for renewables are highly recyclable.

The key sustainability principles outlined in the report include, among others, the careful siting of renewable energy infrastructure and the preservation of natural resources, the development of circularity in renewables supply chains, and the involvement of all stakeholders, especially affected communities.

REN21’s report also provides numerous examples of good practices, effective regulations, and industry standards and certifications, as well as inspiring initiatives that can be applied or adapted to ensure the sustainable deployment of renewables.

The report concludes that the benefits of renewables largely outweigh their potential negative impacts but that negative impacts can and should be mitigated with the adoption of existing best practices.

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