In recent years, there has been a growing momentum to address climate change at national, international and local levels. Reducing our greenhouse gas footprints from energy production and distribution is top on the list of priorities for achieving this. However, as large scale renewable energy projects, like solar parks and wind farms, have begun to gain momentum, they have raised concerns among environmentalists. These include the extraction of new minerals in far off locations, need for land and water and impacts on local biodiversity like birds and fishes. This raises the important question: how do we address climate change without continuing to impact nature?

Dr. Neelakshi Joshi is a scientist at the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development and works on landscape change, governance and socio-ecological-technical system transformation.