# Clean Energy as a Catalyst for a Nature-Positive Transition

Briefing Paper, April 2024 World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Accenture

[Read the Report](https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Clean_Energy_2024.pdf)


## Renewables scale-up is critical to meet global climate targets, but requires large land and water areas.

Clean energy deployment has the potential to achieve 90% of the energy-related CO2 emission reduction needed to meet the Paris Agreement’s 1.5˚C ambition requiring a tripling of capacity by 2030 and a ninefold increase by 2050. Unless properly managed, land and sea-use change associated with the clean energy transition could increase biodiversity conversion pressures by disturbing habitats, fragmenting ecosystems and affecting protected species in designated areas.


## Six Enablers

There is an opportunity for the clean energy transition to deliver a positive impact on nature and benefit from it. The following enablers can facilitate a responsible clean power infrastructure build-out, with a net-positive impact on biodiversity:


### Government Action and Policy

Policy mandates and regulatory requirements remain among the strongest drivers for nature-positive action.


### Measurement Frameworks

The impact of infrastructure deployment and its supply chains on biodiversity is currently not widely or uniformly assessed, measured and monitored.


### Visionary Leadership and Delivering Ambitious Goals

Business leadership includes setting goals and demonstrating progress against them such as through allocating the required resources.


### Partnerships for Collective Action

A partnership approach can allow businesses to benefit from the expertise of conservation groups, academia and local organizations as well as contribute to innovative research.


### Innovative Financing

Innovative financing is key in implementing and scaling up nature conservation and restoration initiatives within clean energy deployment.


### Data, Technology and Innovation

Data is critical to understanding the local environment, monitoring the projects' local and global impact and making informed decisions.


## There is both an urgency as well as an opportunity to generate broader system value by embedding responsible approaches in the lifecycle of clean power projects, on land as well as oceans.

This requires collaborative efforts across businesses, government, academia, philanthropies, multilateral organizations and civil society groups to embrace the six enablers discussed above and accelerate a clean energy transition that is not only secure, sustainable and just, but also nature-positive.