As the energy transition accelerates worldwide, onshore wind power has become a key lever for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate objectives. At the same time, the rapid deployment of renewable energy infrastructure raises important questions about its interactions with biodiversity and ecosystems.
For investors in renewable energy projects, this challenge is particularly important. Renewable energy infrastructure is essential to climate change mitigation, yet its impacts on biodiversity remain unevenly documented and continue to raise scientific and operational questions. Understanding these interactions is critical to ensuring that climate action and biodiversity conservation progress together.
This conviction led Mirova Research Center (MRC) and the Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité (FRB) to establish a three-year research partnership dedicated to better understanding the impacts of renewable energy infrastructure on biodiversity and identifying solutions to avoid, reduce and compensate them. This initiative represents one of the most ambitious research programmes co-financed by a financial institution and focused on the biodiversity footprint of renewable energy investments.
For Mirova, supporting scientific research is a natural extension of its investment activities. Robust scientific evidence can help improve investment decision-making, inform industry practices, and contribute to broader discussions on how renewable energy projects can be developed in ways that are compatible with both climate and biodiversity objectives.
The programme follows a structured approach across three renewable energy technologies: onshore wind, offshore wind and solar power. For each technology, the research first documents impacts on biodiversity through extensive reviews of the scientific literature before examining the effectiveness of mitigation measures and operational practices implemented across projects and geographies. The objective is not only to advance scientific understanding, but also to translate evidence into practical recommendations for policymakers, infrastructure developers and operators, and the scientific community.
A consistent finding across all research streams is the existence of significant knowledge gaps regarding the interactions between renewable energy infrastructure and biodiversity. While scientific understanding has progressed considerably in recent years, further fundamental and applied research remains essential to support more informed decision-making and the development of energy systems that are more compatible with biodiversity conservation.
The scientific literature shows that the most significant impacts of onshore wind projects occur during the construction and operational phases.
Several effects have been consistently documented:
The extent of these impacts varies considerably depending on species, local ecological conditions, project design and site location. While birds and bats remain the most extensively studied groups, important knowledge gaps persist. Insects also remain largely understudied, despite growing evidence that wind farms can affect migratory insect populations, potentially contributing to broader ecosystem impacts that are still insufficiently understood.
More broadly, the research highlights that interactions between renewable energy infrastructure and biodiversity remain insufficiently documented, underlining the need for further scientific investigation.
Understanding impacts is only part of the challenge. An equally important question is how to avoid, reduce and mitigate biodiversity risks. The research highlights the importance of integrating biodiversity considerations from the earliest stages of project planning, following the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, reduce, and compensate) whenever possible.
The research identifies several measures that have shown promising results in specific contexts and for particular species :
However, additional research is often needed to assess the effectiveness of these measures across different environments and ecological conditions.
One of the key findings is that mitigation measures are highly context-dependent. Their effectiveness often varies according to species, geography and environmental conditions, making local adaptation and long-term monitoring essential.
The research highlights several priorities for accelerating progress.
Ultimately, the research highlights that climate and biodiversity objectives should not be considered in isolation. Understanding and managing potential trade-offs is essential to ensure that renewable energy deployment contributes positively to both challenges