Integrated Energy Transition Across Scales for Climate-Resilient, Nature-and-People Positive Biodiversity Pathways (TRANS4BIO)

Project description

While the energy transition is essential for avoiding adverse climate impacts and delivering transformative change of natural and human systems, its implementation may inadvertently accelerate biodiversity loss and diminish human health and well-being, if not properly managed. TRANS4BIO addresses (1) governance misalignment between climate and biodiversity agendas that creates significant contradictions and implementation gaps, (2) spatial competition between renewable energy infrastructure and biodiversity conservation, (3) increased pressure on environmental systems from resource extraction driven by renewable energy infrastructure, with impacts transmitted through global supply chains. The project aim is to provide analysis that supports coordinated efforts to implement the energy transition in a way that ensures nature and people positive outcomes while reducing the risks posed by narrowly-focused climate mitigation policies. The research spans across diverse contexts: mineral-rich extraction zones in South Africa, offshore wind development in the North Sea, local implications of the energy transition in European and South African cities, and global climate and biodiversity negotiations.

The work package led by IDOS, examines how countries can align national energy interests with marine biodiversity conservation in transboundary settings. It focuses on offshore wind development in the North Sea and biodiversity loss risks, specifically around the Dogger Bank.