Clean-energy transition needs land – can it also restore it?

KUALA LUMPUR, 20 AUGUST 2026 —

Renewable-energy expansion could claim three million hectares by 2032, a six-fold jump from today’s 500,000 hectares, according to the UN Environment Programme.

The projected surge in solar, wind and other infrastructure risks crowding landscapes unless projects are designed to repair, not just occupy, land, experts said at a side-event during the UN Desertification Conference in Ulaanbaatar. “Renewable-energy expansion is potentially one of history’s largest land-use transformations,” said Julian Blanc, head of UNEP’s Biodiversity and Land Branch. “The question is whether it leaves landscapes and people better off than before.”

Clear examples exist. In China’s deserts, photovoltaic plants now stabilise sand, trap moisture and support livestock feed crops, said He Jijiang, a researcher at Tsinghua University. Solar-powered pumps and vegetation strips in the Taklamakan and Tengger deserts have reduced evaporation, held drifting sand and generated extra income from honey and fodder.

In India, digital mapping tools help smallholder farmers install panels on less-productive plots while selling surplus power through a utility-run payment system, turning solar into a second revenue stream without displacing crops.

Planning order matters, Muralee Thummarukudy, Director of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification’s G20 Global Land Initiative, told the forum. “Context decides whether solar is the solution for ecological restoration or a new pressure point,” he said, citing Mongolian rangelands and other fragile ecosystems that require tailored approaches.

Yet trade-offs remain. Even well-planned renewable clusters can overwhelm river basins or wildlife corridors. In Malawi’s Shire River Basin, UNEP found that multiple hydropower plants could collectively strain fisheries, biodiversity and downstream communities. “Nothing is impact-free,” Blanc said.

UNEP will issue a global call for case studies this year to expand the evidence base. The push aligns with UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ call to “break our dependence on fossil fuels” while “protecting and restoring nature at scale.” For Malaysian investors eyeing renewable projects abroad, the lesson is clear: land-use strategy must be baked in from the first feasibility study, not added as an afterthought.