Energy Impact Report: Renewables Edition, Q1 2025

Renewable Energy Transitions Amid Trade Tensions Reshape Electricity Production

This comprehensive analysis examines how renewable energy companies face significant biodiversity challenges due to the land-intensive nature of renewable energy installations. This research reveals that while practitioners perceive large-scale wind and solar energy developments to have a negative impact on biodiversity, these impacts are considered less severe than those from other land-cover change drivers, including fossil fuels and agriculture. This perception highlights the complex trade-offs that necessitate sophisticated materiality assessment processes, which consider both financial materiality during project development and impact materiality across ecological outcomes throughout renewable energy value chains.

The report additionally highlights how recent tariff volatility has disrupted renewable energy deployments for 57% of utilities particularly affecting solar wind and battery storage implementations.

Call to Action: Electricity generators should develop regionally diversified supply chains and implement flexible technology roadmaps that can adapt to trade policy fluctuations ensuring renewable energy commitments remain achievable despite economic uncertainties.

The report highlights innovative approaches from industry leaders, with Brookfield systematically assessing biodiversity impacts across sensitive areas using IUCN data, while NextEra Energy has developed comprehensive biodiversity monitoring protocols. These initiatives reflect growing industry recognition of double materiality considerations, where environmental stewardship creates both ecological benefits and strategic advantages in increasingly conscious investment markets and regulatory landscapes.

This analysis explores significant growth in community-based renewable energy projects, with Iberdrola reporting a 34% increase in cooperative energy initiatives, creating both economic opportunities and environmental benefits across 28 regional markets. The research examines how community ownership models are transforming public engagement with renewable energy deployment. The Scottish Government's Community Energy Generation Growth Fund, providing £3.5 million in 2025/26, supports communities at various stages of renewable project development across diverse geographical contexts.

The report examines the impact of large-scale renewable energy expansion on progress toward the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 7, which aims for affordable and clean energy, while potentially conflicting with SDG 2.4, which promotes sustainable agriculture, SDG 15.1, which emphasises terrestrial ecosystem conservation, and SDG 15.5, which prioritises biodiversity protection. Companies that implement integrated planning approaches, balancing these objectives, demonstrate enhanced awareness of ESG considerations and potentially secure advantages in project approval processes and stakeholder relationships.

Looking toward future renewable landscapes, the report identifies how technological innovations in project design, wildlife monitoring, and habitat conservation are transforming industry approaches to sustainability and biodiversity protection. Companies implementing comprehensive biodiversity management practices aligned with international frameworks, such as the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), are demonstrating enhanced preparedness for reporting requirements under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and other evolving disclosure frameworks, while also improving their contributions to the circular economy through comprehensive lifecycle planning.