WASHINGTON — Major solar developers, conservation groups, agricultural organizations, environmental and environmental justice groups and tribal entities announced a landmark agreement to advance large-scale U.S. solar development while championing land conservation and supporting local community interests. The agreement is the product of the Solar Uncommon Dialogue process, organized by Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, the Solar Energy Industries Association and The Nature Conservancy.
U.S. solar energy output is expected to increase by 500% during the next 10 years, and the rapid increase in utility-scale solar presents numerous issues the industry will need to address, including conversion of natural and working lands, impacts to plant and animal habitat, and impacts to local communities. The Solar Uncommon Dialogue agreement marks a major turning point in resolving conflicts arising from the development of utility-scale U.S. solar energy projects.
“I greatly appreciated having a seat at the table on behalf of the Land Trust Alliance and our nearly 1,000 member land trusts across the country, and I commend Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, the Solar Energy Industries Association and The Nature Conservancy for bringing everyone together to have these important discussions,” said Andrew Bowman, president and CEO of the Land Trust Alliance, one of the organizations that signed the agreement. “A ‘both-and’ approach focused on the buildout of large-scale solar alongside a bold land conservation agenda is not only achievable but necessary to address climate change. Rapid solar deployment doesn’t have to come at the expense of our high-value natural and working lands and, conversely, land conservation doesn’t have to be a barrier to solar power.”
CLIMATE, CONSERVATION, COMMUNITY
Signatories to the Solar Uncommon Dialogue agreement have committed to improving large-scale solar development based on the “3Cs”: climate, conservation and community.
- Climate emphasizes minimizing carbon emissions through clean energy sources, like solar energy and other tools, including natural climate solutions.
- Conservation seeks to minimize impacts on natural and working lands.
- Community commits to equitable distribution of renewable energy project benefits.
Natural climate solutions, such as forest protection, improved forest management practices, wetlands restoration and protection, grassland preservation, and improved agricultural practices, use the power of nature to reduce the impacts of climate change. Natural climate solutions are inexpensive and provide numerous co-benefits including clean air and water, healthy soils, and wildlife habitat that can alleviate the worsening biodiversity crisis. And they provide places for people to recreate, hunt, fish and grow food. Yet every hour, the United States loses roughly 150 acres of natural land and 85 acres of farmland and ranchland to development. That’s 3,600 acres of natural lands and 2,000 acres of working lands every day — losses that reduce our ability to address climate change.
A seminal 2018 study published in Science Advances and led by Nature Conservancy scientists found that natural climate solutions deployed at a national level could prevent or sequester more than one-fifth of annual U.S. greenhouse gas pollution. That’s the equivalent of the pollution from approximately 263 million vehicles.
“There is no need to wait for technological innovations to take advantage of natural climate solutions,” said Bowman. “In fact, photosynthesis is the only proven ‘technology’ that is affordable and can be deployed today at scale to remove carbon from the atmosphere and buy time for us to fully deploy other mitigation strategies.”