Unlocking Synergies between Renewable Energy Deployment and Land Restoration - Action Dome, UNCCD COP17

Good morning, everyone. Thank you so, so much for joining us today, especially for the side event, unlocking synergies between renewable energy deployment and land restoration. My name is Apoorva Bose. I am the strategic communications and partnerships officer for sustainable finance at the Global Landscapes Forum, Landscape Alliance. I know that's a mouthful, but it is my absolute honor to be guiding the conversation today. We're seeing renewable energy expand very quickly across the world, and that is essential, but it also raises a very important question for us working on land. These projects, of course, do not happen in isolation. They use land. water and infrastructure. And in many cases, they're being developed in drylands and rangelands that already support livelihoods, biodiversity and customary uses, which of course is extremely relevant to the conversation we're having today at UNCCD COP17 in Mongolia. At the same time, renewable energy can also support restoration and resilience, whether through better access to water, and energy in rural areas, or through approaches that reduces pressure on land. So today, we want to look at both these agendas together. How do we expand renewable energy in a way that is sensitive to land and where possible, actually supports resilience and restoration? We're joined today by an excellent group of experts bringing different perspectives from land restoration, renewable energy, implementation, research, and environmental guidance. I'd love to introduce our panel to all of you today. We have with us Dr. Murli Tummakudi, who is the director of the G20 Global Land Initiative at UNCCD. Dr. Gayathri Nair S, program officer for technology and infrastructure for grid integration at the International Renewable Energy Agency. Julien Blanc, who is the head of Biodiversity and Land Branch in the Ecosystems Division of the United Nations Environment Program, Suhas IAS, the managing director of Cochin International Airport Limited, who unfortunately could not be with us today, but he'll be joining us through a recorded video intervention, and Dr. He Zheng from the Center for Energy Transition and Social Development at Shenghua University. Thank you so much all of you for being with us today. It is an absolute honor to have all of you. I want to start this conversation with Dr. Murli, bringing in the larger land conversation to this session today. And to frame this discussion from the land perspective and also from what I just mentioned, And also because, I mean, we are at the COP and there's so many conversations and negotiations with member states, but how can countries actually ensure that it supports rather than compete with land restoration and drought resilience goals? Over to you, Murli.

Thank you, Apurva. Welcome all of you to the technical session on renewables and land. In 2008, I visited China, and I was taken to one city in China, which is well known for renewables, and that city had then the largest production facility for solar, and almost every building in that city had solar in an integrated manner, and its hotels, its conference centers, it had a museum on solar. It is then that I actually felt how solar and hence renewable is going to take over the world in not distant future. And I've been following the development of solar since then and of course, you know, solar has now become cheaper than conventional fuels in most part of the world. Two years back, I had a chance meeting with the person who is leading the renewable of RWE, which is the largest energy company in Germany, but he's leading the renewable in the United States. And he was explaining how the land footprint of renewable, especially solar, is increasing. And he gave some numbers. They did more research on that topic. Right now, it is less than 500,000 hectares of land being used. for renewables. But it is expected that by 2032, this footprint will go to three million hectares of land. Now, if you compare that to the mining, another sector where we know land footprint exists, the global footprint of mining is about 10 million hectares. Now, mining has been going on for 1,000 years, and still it's only 10 million hectares of land footprint. And solar, which is a relatively new technology, is already going to have three million hectares in let's say 20, 25 years of its existence. So clearly, until that point, I did not have the whole land question in mind. So then I started looking at both the land footprint of renewables, but also how renewables can be used as a force for good, to reduce drought, to create microclimate where things like biosolar can be used and so on. So I'm as much here at today's discussion to learn as to contribute my ideas. We at the Global Land Initiative has a mandate to achieve 50% reduction in degraded land by 2040. And clearly renewable has to be in the question. And we are looking forward to this conversation today and see how we can bring the two together. Thank you.

Thank you, Murli. And I remember working with you when we had met the RWD person as well. So it's a refresher right there for me. But staying with the land question, but bringing it more to the heart of the landscapes conversation at this COP, which is rangelands and drylands specifically, what do you think governments should keep in mind when they plan renewable energy projects so that existing livelihoods and ecological and customary land uses can also be respected.

No, rangeland is actually a little bit of an interesting question because most people think rangeland is a little bit of wasteland or wasted land. So, across Africa, countries and donors are planting to tree, planning to plant trees in rangeland, but rangeland is not A degraded forest, rangeland is a very separate ecosystem, which has to be dealt like a separate ecosystem. And when you see rangeland, including in Mongolia, you think, oh, this is empty land, why don't we go and do plant trees or do renewables? And this is not the correct approach. When you plant, whatever you plant in the rangeland, It has to be acknowledged that rangeland is a separate ecosystem and there is an entire lifestyle which has built around it. Of course, when you, this community also need energy and land use, build how to be used and there has to be compromises made, but one should never treat rangeland as somewhere where you can put anything else because it's already degraded. I think that's the main point which we can get across all over the world on the question of rangeland.

That's a very interesting point because a lot of the times when we talk about rangelands, there's this question of like, are they even, can they even put to use? So I'm very glad you brought that into this conversation today as well. But moving to you maybe, Gayathri, because we did touch upon renewable energy and as somebody who has been working in this field, I'd love to hear your thoughts, especially on the kind of opportunities that you see in the different perspectives and the work that you've been doing over the past few years as well. So over to you, Gayathri, for your presentation.

Thank you, Apoorva. If I could have the slides. Thank you. So just to give a brief introduction of what I do, I work at the IRENA's Innovation Technology Center. Our office is based in Bonn, Germany, but I work in in the department or the team that works a lot on power sector transformation. So in the upcoming slides, I'll give you a brief introduction on what we do as an IRENA, as well as what I do. So we are an intergovernmental organization, and we support countries in their transition to a sustainable energy and renewables. And we support countries. We do a lot of analytical studies, and we also bring out a lot of publications which work on processing data and bringing out data on renewable energy capacities, installation, and what needs to be done in the future. We have three offices. We have around 172 members and EU country, EU as well as our membership. And they decide on the strategy of our work and how we progress forward. So in this particular slide, you can see results from one of our evaluations and we show that future energy systems will be dominated by renewables and most of it will come from solar. And you may wonder why this is happening. It's mainly because of the reasons that I've highlighted here. You have, uh, the aim or the target to achieve decarbonization, and you have the aim of achieving energy security as well as affordable energy. But at the same time, some of the other factors which have been driving this is the reducing cost of renewables and enablers, and of course, uh, some of the technological innovations and improvement in efficiencies, and of course, the right kind of incentives and, uh, policies that have come into play. So I mentioned earlier also that solar is leading this growth of renewables in the world, and it is all set to expand as well. And I just made a comparison between what are the land uses of solar and land. It's just for indicative purposes. I won't be discussing much about land in this presentation, mostly about solar, because that is one of the renewable energies which we talk about mostly. So you can see that land usage for solar PV per hectare is about, I mean, 1.5 to 2 hectare per megawatt. And the same thing goes for wind as well, but the usage in case of wind is we have dual purposes, and we have to think of ways of to utilize the land usage of solar in such a manner as well. What are the negative impacts? So when we talk about some of the negative impacts of solar PV, we talk about the usage of land, of course, and then we have vegetation loss when we are operating and implementing or deploying solar PV. We are also concerned regarding vegetation loss, and then we have threat to wildlife. Some cases there is an increasing threat to, or increasing risk of flooding, which can happen. So land clearing is one key negative impact of solar PV, and that's something we have to worry about from the perspective of land. What could be the positive impacts of solar? You could have reduced ground temperature beneath the panels, which would also then lead to reduced water evaporation and retaining more moisture in the soil, and therefore it could have impacts on vegetation growth. Um, reduce wind speed is one which could be of, uh, importance in areas with the dry. Thank you. Uh, so that is, uh, increased soil moisture and radio soil temperature is one aspect. And at the same time, you could also have, I was talking about reduced wind speed, sorry. So reduced wind speed, uh, is, Usually a neutral impact, but in places where there could be a lot of desertification because of sandstorms, this could kind of help in reducing that risk. And then there is also the change soil quality and vegetation coverage that could be offered by solar panels. Now, um, there are multiple ways in which we can actually reduce the impact of solar PV on land. One is to consider if we can go for higher efficiency of solar panels so that we can deploy lesser in megawatts capacities. Another is to use solar PV for more decentralized uses like in agriculture, in health, in education, improving the resilience of communities. Also have it in the form of microgrids or mini grids which could support rural communities where the main grid has actually not reached. And then of course we can go in for applications like agrivoltaics or floating solar PV, which is kind of also gaining a lot of traction. An example I would like to bring to you is an example of solar irrigation from India, wherein usually the farmers, there were a lot of rural farmers and with small land holdings and they were not sure about having solar panels installed in their farms. And the government came up with a scheme of subsidizing solar irrigation. And using that, they still face some impediments in the form of awareness from farmers. So the farmers were not aware of about the benefits or the impacts that solar systems could cause. And also they were not aware of the benefits they could accrue from it. So they joined up with an organization to develop a digital platform in which the farmers were able to identify which part of their farms could be used and which had high resources. And finally, they also paired up with the utility. who provided a lot of information on how to start the project, finish the project, and they were monitoring it throughout. So they supported them with the implementation of the project. And finally, they also helped with actually digitalization of the payment system and how the farmers could get more money out of selling their excess power that they had generated and were not using it. So how to promote sustainable development? So with solar, I would like to go back to the theme of today's of the UN COP this year that is restoring land, but I will take restoring climate. So how can you do both? So you need to restore the agri-food systems, you need to restore land, but you also need to restore climate. And how can you do that? You can have integrated project design and planning where you do a proper site selection, avoiding very high risk areas and biodiversity areas. And then you also prioritize deployment on degraded land, like Mr. Sir has said about mining areas could be utilized. An advantage of using mining areas is that they already would have some kind of a transmission infrastructure which could be utilized. And the solar deployment would not need to implement new assets or new transmission assets there. So these are some of the practices that can be put in place in order to have a promote sustainable development. So these are some of the options we have to promote sustainable development. And one example I would like to take is the floating solar, where you place solar PV on water bodies. It could be lakes, it could be rivers, it could be even the ocean closer to the land and wherein you would generate electricity but at the same time you would also be creating a micro climatic condition underneath where possibly, and this is all ongoing trials, where possibly the flora of the region could be preserved or better productivity could be encouraged. So agrivoltaics, again, this is another aspect of a solar PV installation that is carrying a lot of traction now, where you combine solar PV with agricultural activities and you generate renewable power. But the key part, and the figure below is about grazing. So the key difference between agrivoltaics and sheep grazing is that the focus in agrivoltaics is to generate better quality produce, agricultural produce, and not to generate electricity. So if by implementing solar PV, you are able to produce 70% or more better produce, and that is the success of the agrivoltaics, rather than sheep grazing where the primary concern is to produce electricity. So there needs to be a distinction between the aim and the target of the solution. There are certain barriers which we will face and we still face, and the key of them, key barrier that we face is about stakeholder awareness. Many of the stakeholders are not aware of the existing solutions, they do not know about the benefits, they do not know about the impact, so that has to be you know, resolved by better stakeholder engagement. You have unclear or inconsistent land use policies, which needs to be improved. There is a lack of technological skills and clarity on, no clarity on the long term impacts that happen. So everything needs to be clear and there need to be a set of guidelines. and policies in place which actually can, uh, produce a bo- a lot of positive impacts and also make sure that the renewable energy is not competing with land use. So I guess, um, that's it from me. Uh, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer.

Thank you, Gayathri, for that very holistic presentation because you spoke about the positive impacts, the challenges, the barriers, and also just bringing it down all to the examples that you showed as well. So thank you, and we do have space for questions at the end, which I'm sure a lot of people would be very curious to ask as well. And one of the things you did mention was safeguards, right? And that brings me now, that's a perfect segue into my question for you, Julia. Very pleased to have you on this panel as well. I want to begin with integrated planning, right? So from UNEP's perspective, what does integrated planning really look like? Because countries are, of course, trying to, you know, adhere to biodiversity conservation, restoration, sustainable land management, all at the same time. So how does integrated planning work in this case as per your perspective? Over to you.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. So indeed, as you say, countries have multiple objectives, biodiversity conservation, climate change, energy access, of course also the economy, right, which shouldn't be forgotten. And all of these things need to be addressed simultaneously. So I think a critical thing is to treat them as interconnected goals as opposed to competing agendas. Now that is actually much easier said than done because we live in a very siloed world where everybody has their own agenda and tries to push for what they want. And also it's really important to be upfront and clear. I mean, Gayatri, you've mentioned it. There are many benefits to particular approaches, but there are also trade-offs, right? So the trade-offs will never go away. They are inevitable. So it's very rare to find a solution that will maximize everything at the same time, right? So we have to be pragmatic about that, and decisions have to try to make the best or optimize across the different objectives, but realizing that you're never going to get, sort of get, Uh, having your cake and eating it too, right? So the other thing is that, of course, traditionally, and this is what we have to try to move away from, the one objective that certainly in, in the, in the sort of corporate or private sector world, the one objective has always been maximize profit. That is what we need to try to move away from and optimize for multiple objectives. Now, how do we do that? It's again, easier said than done. But we need to move away from the sectoral siloed approach and bring all the different sectors together, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, et cetera, and together do the planning. I said easier said than done, again, for what I mentioned earlier about the, everybody has their own agenda, but you have to try to integrate all those different agendas and very carefully manage power dynamics because that's another, another of the critical points that different sectors have different, amount of power and influence in the conversation. So, and of course, collaboration also has its costs. It takes more time to bring everybody around the table and agree and consensuate things. We know this from conventions like the CCD than to just go for your single objective. Another important thing to think about scale. So you could just be thinking about one project in one place, but actually if you start doing many projects in the whole landscape, the impacts could be cumulative, right? So you cannot just be looking at a narrow spatial extent, you need to broaden out. So I'll give you an example from one of the projects in Malawi that's river basin. So in Malawi, in the, in the Shire River Basin, UNEP has found that, um, there is a collective impact from multiple, uh, from hydropower plants, multiple plants on fisheries, biodiversity, and the downstream, uh, communities. So anyway, I hope this doesn't sound too negative because there are trade-offs, but of course there are plenty of synergies and we just have to be creative to find those, uh, those opportunities, those synergies. And that's what integrated planning really tries to do, find those pathways where energy, uh, uh, production and restoration can reinforce each other. One example, and Gayatri, you've mentioned it about citing things in degraded land, is another example from the Shishen mine solar project in South Africa, Where basically was an old mine, degraded land, and it has been used for installing, um, solar facilities. Now, all of these, and Gayatri, you've also alluded to this, needs really strong governance, and, and that's the, again, all that bringing together around the table and managing power dynamics is, is very tricky. In UNEP, we're also working with Norway's Energy for Development Program to build the capacity for environmental governance, for policy coherence, and multi-sector collaboration in countries like Malawi, Mozambique, and Nepal. And I'll leave it there. Thank you.

Thank you, Julia. I think what really stands out to me is, of course, the stress that you give on interconnected goals and, of course, how you maintain that this is easier said than done, but this can still be done, as you mentioned. But I want to just stay with you for a second because something that you mentioned kind of brings me to the next question that I have for you, which is renewable energy is part of the environmental solution, but individual projects can still create pressures on land, biodiversity, water. And what are some of the safeguards that's important in the full cycle, life cycle of a project itself? And I'm talking about the process from like the siting to construction, to decommissioning and restoration. So what are some of the safeguards that should be in place?

So indeed, as you say, you actually have to manage it for the entire life cycle, uh, and not just think about where am I going to put this solar panels. And because nothing is impact free and it goes all the way to, from the earliest planning point, uh, stage all the way to decommissioning. So, but of course, getting the sighting right initially is a really important safeguard, certainly from the perspective of, uh, biodiversity conservation, et cetera. And if we keep them, as Gayatri said, keep them, keep renewable energy projects outside of critical habitats, migration routes, et cetera, et cetera, that is really important because you don't want to do more damage. So you basically want to not just avoid harm, we shouldn't stop there, but you want to try and be positive overall if you can, right? So, of course, we do have tools like, uh, strategic environmental impact assessments and environmental and social impact assessments that we have to use, ideally before investment decisions are made and not just as a tick box to be done once the decision has been made, right? Now, we can apply the, um, uh, mitigation hierarchy, which of course, even in the land degradation neutrality, we have a very similar thing. Avoid, minimize, restore, and then only as a last resort, compensate, you know, or offset, so as I say, try to achieve no- not net loss, but ideally try to find a net positive outcome. Now, in terms of operational safeguards for construction, of course, we want to minimize habitat fragmentation, protect water, manage pollution, climate risks, monitor compliance, et cetera. Again, all these different objectives that makes it hard, but doable, as you say. We also need to have social safeguards, avoid involuntary displacements, protect public health, something that is often not looked at environmental impact assessments. and also ensure gender responsive strategies and make it participatory, ensure that there is meaningful local participation. In the, I'll give you an example from Malawi, which I mentioned earlier in the Tamanga hydropower project. It went beyond basic compliance by creating a dedicated biodiversity action plan focused on aquatic ecosystems, fisheries, and long-term monitoring. Now, in terms of managing Cumulative impacts, which I alluded to earlier, you have to sort of try to assess how multiple independent projects scale up and how they can put collective pressure on a watershed or a landscape. So that's really important to maintain ecological integrity. And then in terms of the end of life and decommissioning, again, we know we already have a lot of e-waste, solar panels are part of that problem, and we have to try to avoid a future further crisis from panels, batteries, and other things. Of course, it also links up to lithium mining and all sorts of things. Everything is interconnected. So again, try to try, you know, commit to integrate recycling, reuse, restoration of sites after decommissioning. And we're seeing, for example, in South Africa, new waste, e-waste regulations, which enforce extended producer responsibility. which is now mandatory to prevent toxic contamination. So again, the full cycle needs to be addressed and there's plenty of considerations at every step of the way. Thank you.

Thank you, Julia. And I think oftentimes we look at you know, renewable projects from a very myopic lens, right? We look at just the project and just the impact of the project itself. But what you said really, you know, struck a chord, and I'm sure with the audience here as well, which is to look at like gender responsiveness and, you know, not just the ecological integrity as well. So thank you for your intervention. But Most of the speakers today have packed their interventions with a lot of examples, and I'd like to now move from policy and safeguards to a practical implementation all the way from India. Our next intervention is a video recorded interview from Mr. Suhas S from the Cochin International Airport, which really shows you what a renewable project from an implementation lens really looks like. requesting the tech team to kindly show the video. Thank you.

Sustainability take flight together. When Siyal was recognized as the world's first airport which was fully powered by solar energy, it marked a historic milestone. But for us, it was never the destination. It was beginning of a much larger journey, a journey driven by a simple belief that airports can be more than great ways connecting people. They can become catalysts for climate action. Today, that vision continues to evolve. Building on our pioneering solar initiatives, CIAL today operates seven solar power plants across airport campus. Our renewable energy establishment also includes a 5.1 megawatt solar carport, which spreads across more than 2.25 lakh square feet and a 416 kilowatt floating solar power plant at Siyal Golf Course. We have expanded our clean energy portfolio with 4.5 megawatt hydroelectric project and 12 megawatt terrain mounted solar power plant in Northern Kerala, which was outside airport premises. Together, these initiatives have created an integrated renewable energy ecosystem with a cumulative installed capacity of nearly 50 megawatts. Every day, we generate nearly 2 lakh units of clean electricity, meeting our operational requirements while contributing surplus renewable energy to the grid. Every year, this translates into nearly 73 million units of green electricity, preventing almost 66,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. an environmental impact comparable to planting more than three million trees or replacing nearly 30 million liters of fossil fuel. Yet, sustainability is about much more than producing clean energy. It is about using every resource wisely. Across our airport, solar panels coexist with agriculture, demonstrating how infrastructure and nature can work in harmony. Water used to clean the solar panels is recycled to irrigate green landscapes. Treated wastewater is reused across the campus, and even our water reservoirs contribute to renewable energy generation through floating solar installations. For us, Sustainability is about creating systems where every resource has value. Every square meter serves a purpose. Every drop of water is conserved. Every innovation brings us one step closer to circular and climate resilient future. And our journey continues. Today, we are entering the next frontier of clean energy. In partnership with Badr Petroleum Corporation Limited, SIAL is establishing India's first green hydrogen plant within an airport campus. The one megawatt pilot project is designed with a planned production capacity of 400 kilograms of green hydrogen per day. The hydrogen powered vehicles are being deployed in the operational area, incorporating green aviation protocols. Complementing this initiative, We are also introducing hydrogen powered buses at operational area, extending clean energy beyond power generation into sustainable mobility. Climate resilience remains an integral part of SEAL sustainability vision. Through Operation Pravaha, a comprehensive flood mitigation initiative with an investment of more than Rs. 320 million. The flood management infrastructure was strengthened to safeguard both the airport and surrounding communities from the impact of extreme weather events. Extending this commitment beyond the airport, CIAL has also undertaken rejuvenation of Kerala's historic West Coast Canal. The government of Kerala also entrusted the implementation of Wayanad Rehabilitation Project. one of the state's largest post-disaster reconstruction programs, which encompasses the timely development of a resilient rehabilitation township with earthquake-resistant homes and essential community infrastructure for families affected by Wayanad landslides. Together, these initiatives demonstrate that sustainability extends beyond the production of clean energy. to encompass resilient infrastructure and community well-being. As we look towards the future, our commitment remains unwavering to mark a lighter footprint on the planet while creating a stronger legacy for generations to come. Thank you.

Although it's unfortunate that Suhas could not be here, but perhaps a round of applause for him as well. I'm actually from Kerala, so I fly in and out of this airport, and I believe it's also one of the Champions of the Earth, the UNEP Champions of the Earth as well. So what a fascinating project and really looks at all the different elements that we spoke about as well, which is community well-being and renewable energy and just the holistic approach as well. I want to turn to someone who is bringing in the perspective of research and field evidence from China. Dr. He, thank you so much for being with us today. I particularly want to learn from you, from your experience in China, and especially looking at solar energy and the work that you've been doing. Over to you, Dr. He.

First, 2019, I visited India and took part in COP14. Very good. Malawi, I haven't visited, but I heard it is a very beautiful country with a great lake. I want to visit. And the Muscat City is a very, is a truly fascinating city. I have been there three times. I want to again. Maybe next year, maybe to visit it. Okay, now I introduce my slides, field investigation of desert PV power station in China. Okay, okay. Okay, next, yeah. First, introduce myself. I'm a big zero fan. Because my carbon emission is very, very high, over 23 tons, especially is the transportation emission, so I must to reduce and offset, so my solar PV station. can produce about 40, 24, 25 kilometer, thousand kilometers. And then I buy the 16 certification in China. So is the offset, mainly carbon neutrality. Now this is my PV, solar PV station. It is a gift my parents, to my mum, a mum from the the money from this solar PV, but I get the emission reduction to me. And then, this is my on-site field investigation on desert. And today I introduce the three desert. This is my photo. First case, case one is a solar grid wall in Kubuqi Desert. So there is near to the Yellow River and there is a greater desert. So now in the desert, on the desert, there is a greater house, a great house with solar. And in the future, about five years later, there will be the 2,000 square kilometer solar PV in this decade. And I noticed the plant is very, very good and the flower is very beautiful. The flower is very beautiful. And the water may be too much. So I noticed there are some issue on the plant, on the field, on the plant. And the third photo, they are ring drip, dripping on the edge, on the edge. And the left is the desert, and the right is our solar station. The case two is a plant in Mo-- okay, okay, oh. Yeah, case two is a plant in the Mo sandy land. First of all, it is a plant is very bitter, so animal you don't like it. But it can fix the sand. And another, there's another, it's not easy to eat, but it is fix the sand. Okay. This one, it can be eaten, but you can cut it and crush, and then feed the sheep. the, like it, because these, uh, uh, crude protein is very high, about 10%, is very good, but it must to cut it with the machine, the machine. And the next, next, yeah, this is a special, special plant, maybe the sulfur, I can call it, how to call it. Uh, so many, many under the solar, solar panel. Uh, it is a bitter, too, a very bitter, but you can produce the honey, uh, honey, very good, very sweet. So this, uh, uh, solar station, firstly is the honey production, uh, equal economic returns and biodiversity, uh, except from the solar, uh, production, uh, I think is very good. So this is case three, case three. Evaluation of ecological benefits of the PV power station in the Tengger Desert, Tengger Desert. Now, it is a greater, yeah, it is a greater desert. The left is a desert and the right, it changed into a solar station. And it is one of the largest solar station. One year, this solar station produced about two, nearly two, 20 billion kilowatt, kilowatt to five, about 500 and, 1,500 kilowatt to send out to another province. Uh, is very larger station. Yeah. So we notice the, uh, eco, eco. Uh, the five way is a desert. And in this, uh, field is very good, eco is very good. So this is a technology for the sand control. Uh, uh, very money, and high technology. effect is very good. And notice the rain down drip from this edge. So this line is more water than other places. So you can plant some, some of the plant is very, very, very, very good, thriving. So these fix the sand, is, uh, effective, very good. And, uh, we, uh, collection the water, and that irrigate to the plant under the panel. Uh, so, is, uh, is very good. Uh, so, uh, in this station, we can notice, There are many shrubs, uh, for sand fixing on the PV panels. Uh, PV panels reduce surface evaporation to forest desert shrub and, uh, shrub re- stabilize drifting and, uh, mitigate wind sand damage to power facilitator, realizing coordinator power generation and desert control. Uh, about three years later, after, Uh, yeah, so, uh, there's a beautiful, uh, about three years ago, no, because there are no plant, no eat, but, uh, they, they, uh, run from far away, come here to for eating, uh, okay, gathering, very good. Uh, and then, uh, in this, here, a remarkable improvement, uh, in biodiversity. over 20 pieces of flora and fauna. Very good. So, okay, okay, and the other is, uh, experiment, experiment for plant, so many, many. And this, okay, okay, uh, for, this is, uh, prepare for money. Okay. Okay, okay, next. For the case four, the solar plus PV in Taklamakan Desert. This desert is very, very little rain. It's very hard to rain. So this is my tour around the Taklamakan Desert, about over 3,000 kilometer. This is a water pump. Uh, solar pump, uh, and, uh, irrigation for the, for the road, for the road, high road. And this is a county, their, uh, solar pump for the desert control. Another, another county. Uh, there are so many, many such, such example in China. Uh, and another, another county. And this one is a power station, power station. There are so many, many, so little, so little rain, so they change the method. And then they produce some rice for the sheep. So my conclusion, conclusion, conclusion, compared with the pristine desert environment, Ecological situation of most desert PV based in China have achieved a sustainable improvement. And second, PV power station keep developing and deploying water harvesting, water sieving, soil fixing, and water retention technology. Economically valuable and valuable sand adapted plants is selected. allowing desert PV project to deliver greater contribution to sustainable livelihood alongside ecological benefits. And then this is my, uh, my photo, uh, in the desert. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Dr. He, for bringing in those very fascinating examples from China. But I'm more fascinated by the fact that you have zero footprint. I aspire to do that someday, but a long way to go for that for me. But thank you to all the speakers. But we've not heard from all of you from various different perspectives, but all in the same continuum. So I want to take some time to kind of tie all these points together and bring in sort of like an integrated approach to the different perspectives that we have. So I'll ask panelists to keep their responses very brief and concise so that we can also have time for some audience interaction as well. So my first question is more along the lines of, so if a country wants to rapidly expand renewable energy while also meeting land restoration and drought resilience targets, What should they do before new sites are selected? What is the kind of SOPs that that country should follow? Perhaps I can start with you, Gayathri, and then we can move to Julia.

Thank you, Apoorva, for that question. I think I also kind of highlighted it in my presentation. Basically, it's also what Julian said in the beginning that whoever is starting a project should identify the sites and that site identification should start from the very beginning of the project. It is not like a process which happens after you decide to have a project. And the impacts, the environmental impacts, the land impact, all of it must be evaluated and part of the process of approval as well. So integrated planning is very much important. One point I need to add here is the fact that stakeholder engagement, I think I also emphasized it in my presentation, that most of the times, many of the stakeholders are kept in silos, so that actually doesn't work. You need to have a very close engagement with the people who are going to benefit from it first or from impact by it. Uh, for example, when you talk about, say, transmission grid expansion, so all of these solar PV plants would come with the associated grid expansion if it is not available already. So therefore, uh, in that, in, in, in getting the approval for transmission grids and the associated assets to be put in place and for the solar PV project to be start functioning, generating and evacuating that power, Right of way is very important. So there is a lot of discussions ongoing on how to involve the right kind of stakeholder, understand what his concerns or her concerns are, how can gender be part of that conversation as well. So this is just one example. I'm talking about every renewable project should have this from the get go.

As Gayathri mentioned, it's not an easy topic, but I just want to respond to Dr. Hayes' thing. First of all, my mom was asking for a solar and now I have decided that I'm going to get it and claim that carbon credit for that. Thank you for that. Secondly, always fascinated by the scale at which China is doing things. And as China has shown, when you place it at the right location, solar is the solution. not only for energy but also for ecological restoration. But in another situation, that may not be the case. So looking at the context specific, use of renewable, I think, is very critical. That's what I would put at this point. Thank you.

Okay, I can share. In China, some power station, around some station, the villagers, he, change from the greaser to the worker, he can get more money from the solar PV, so he reduce the grease. Later grease is better, I think. So maybe villager can get money from the for, for the worker, for the power, not for the, not for the, so less I think is better for the eco.

Thank you very much. I want to compliment some of what has already been said. I think it's important to, yeah, reverse the standard sequence is not pick a site and then deal with the environmental issues. but understand the whole landscape first, right? And then pick a site based on that. And that basically goes to the integrated spatial planning that you've mentioned as well. where you really have to map out all the variables and understand. In terms of engaging the locals, I think they also hold critical knowledge. They probably know things that the technical assessments will miss, like drought risk or flood risk, et cetera, et cetera. So that's absolutely critical. Again, I mentioned earlier the strategic environmental impact assessments, that's part of compliance, but use them properly. And, um, and also it's really important to start investing in monitoring, establish best lines, and then continue to monitor thereafter. And as I said earlier as well, is to try to optimize, not to compromise. It's not about finding the cheapest place in which to do it, but one that will deliver the most benefits for everyone.

Thank you. And I think just to synthesize what all of you have said, um, would be that understand the landscape first. And then pick a side, and of course plan the importance of planning from the get-go, and it shouldn't be an afterthought, and something which all of you mentioned in various different ways is the importance of stakeholder engagement. critical, you know, a very critical topic, especially at the COP because there are so many stakeholders here, but you know, different conversations that, you know, should that happens in silos, but I guess this is an opportunity for it to kind of open up as well. And lastly, what Murli mentioned, which I think is very important to have that understanding of the context, which I think is very critical when we're looking at a specific project or looking at a specific event as well. So that's sort of what I got from all of you. But I want to pick on something which Julian had mentioned in his intervention, which I think was particularly very interesting for me because I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. So should the ambition be simply to minimize the land impacts of renewable energy, or should future projects be expected to actively contribute to restoration, biodiversity, and local livelihoods? Perhaps I can start with you, Julian, then two guys.

Thank you. So yeah, I mean, minimizing harm is the bare minimum you can do, right? I mentioned the mitigation hierarchy of avoid, minimize, and restore, and that really should be the foundation that we work with. So if you just have promises, oh yeah, we'll restore after we leave, that's not enough. You have to have that extended responsibility to make sure that happens. And of course, we want to raise the ambition to be net positive, not just to reduce that harm or to minimize it, but to to make it -- this is going to be as we refer today, one of history's largest land use transformations. Yeah. So we have to do it right. Okay. The other thing is about leveraging dual benefits scenarios, again that multi-criteria, use the degraded lands or former mines as was mentioned earlier. And I mentioned the -- an example of Malawi. And then, as I said earlier as well, just be realistic about expectations. Not everything can deliver massive gains, but certainly avoid unnecessary harm and seek out feasible opportunities. To me, the real question is no longer whether renewable energy is going to expand or not. It is. And the question is whether it expands in ways that leaves landscapes, ecosystems, and people better off than before.

I want to share an initiative, this is initiative about 10 years ago, one person, one kilowatt PV, one person, everywhere, everywhere, I need one kilowatt, 10 years later, China maybe will achieve, reach this, this year, maybe next year, but this is not enough. Uh, is not enough, and, uh, top up is not enough, uh, for the carbon neutrality, I think the solar maybe double, double, and double, uh, so we maybe, uh, pay a greater attention for the Fox, uh, investment, uh, and everywhere, uh, should have a van kilo.

Thank you. And I, as I was listening to, um, all the speakers, I was thinking, wouldn't it be interesting to look at the cost of solar from a total ecological price? So if a renewable place in a certain context, such as an agricultural land, could be given a penalty, ecological penalty of certain cents per kilowatt, and if it is placed in a desert or land restoration context is given a positive incentive, Then suddenly I think, you know, the economic incentive can then drive solar moving into the right land context. Um, I think that's something which I would be taking it up in my future work. Thank you.

I agree with all, all of that has been discussed here now in this part of the conversation. And, uh, for me, the importance of solar also comes from how it can be used. elsewhere. So what are the other complementary uses? So I did show a few of them in my presentation. And the fact is, like Julian said, renewables are going to expand. So there is no two ways about it. I think what we have to do is to, like Sir says, to reduce the impact on land and give incentives to shift it to better siting. But at the same time, See what other, for example, this is just a thought process that came to me now. In certain areas, I've heard this in the US happening, like EV, electric vehicles are a big challenge in terms of how to charge them. And they have identified certain parts of the US as EV deserts because they don't have charging stations. So this is one way that people could actually come forward and say that, okay, you can deploy your EV charging in my land, but at the same time, the person earns a lot of money or some kind of investment in return. So, I mean, in return or that investment, and the EV charging station could be there. At the same time, it also provides a lot of reliability on the supply. I, for one, work a lot on grids, and I know there are certain places on this planet where the main grid has not reached. And solar in hybrid with, say, a biogas plant or a pumped, sorry, a small micro hydro can actually satisfy the needs, energy needs or requirements of a certain rural community, especially going with health, with education and all the mechanization of the agro industry that can take place. So I guess that is a very, very important aspect that has to be put forward and pushed also. so that dual benefits are there.

Thank you, Gayathri. And thank you to all of you as well. I think it's, as Julia mentioned, I think mitigating impacts on land is the bare minimum, but we should move the conversation to much beyond that. And the much beyond could be, as you mentioned, Murli, which is the economics of solar, or it could even be looking at modern technologies and solutions for modern times. So it could be looking at various things as well and pushing the boundaries as we move forward. We've covered a lot of ground, but we do have a little bit of time for some audience questions. If you could please raise your hand if you have any questions, do introduce yourself briefly. your organization and pose a question to any of our panel members. Requesting everyone to please be brief so that we have room for the next session to be set up. But the floor is open.

Yvonne.

If there is an extra mic, or I'm happy to.

Hi, thank you for all of you. It was very insightful and interesting panel session. My name is Namul. I work at the UNDP Mongolia as a project assistant. I actually worked with the solar panel project, but I wasn't into the like EV, the panel inside stuff. One thing I wanted to ask is, you all said we have to look into the life cycle of these projects and how do you properly dispose

of the EV panels after the usage of it all? Maybe we can take a few questions and then answer or if anybody wants to go first.

Thank you. The, um, life cycle analysis, I would actually expand it slightly. So, first of all, of course, the site implementation of solar, so site selection, installation, commissioning, all the associated infrastructure, and finally, of course, after maintenance and disposal. This is one. But also, there's a downstream impact of this, that the solar panel has to be built, and for which you need critical minerals, for which those all the land footprint and water footprint and environmental footprint is happening in other parts of the world. So in life cycle, we have this dual thinking, what happens in the ground as well as beyond. Regarding your question on the solar panel disposal, I think this is one question which has been coming up for a long time. Historically, solar panels were absolutely massive and there are a lot of critical metals being used. That first generation panels are now being decommissioned, it's a huge e-waste disposal problem. Some of them are being used for urban mining, meaning they are being recycled, and the new solar panels are being built keeping the circular economy in mind so that it can be recycled. So the first generation disposal remains a e-waste disposal problem, but which is increasingly being handled as a urban mining issue, meaning you are recovering whatever you could recover from those things. And there are many technologies and technological centers available in that. It's almost a big business opportunity as well for somebody who wants to set up a green business. Thank you.

Last two years, China has supplied many products to other countries such as Africa. the solar PV and energy storage and electric two wheels. So you can off grid, this system is off grid, only solar PV is enough storage and electric PV, EV. And in Mongolia, it's very cold in the winter, so we can use solar PV to supply the power. to heating, for heating. So, more heating, more electric heating, the less the cut to the tree, so the better eco, I think. Thank you very much.

I just wanted to add one point to what has been said already. Very key on Reducing the, the products that come for recycling is to have a standardization. So technical standards are very, very important. And countries should come up with standards for equipments which they are manufacturing or they're importing and make sure that the longevity of the product is ensured. And you also have, a supply chain where if in case there are some parts in that particular product which needs to be replaced, it can be replaced rather than dumping the entire device or the apparatus down the drain and going for recycling. So there is a need for creating that kind of a standardization in everything, not only in solar panels, like Professor mentioned about batteries. This is also going to be a very critical which is going to come up in the future. So I feel that technical standards are very key in maintaining that.

Hi, thank you to the panel for a great discussion. Uh, my question specifically for China. Professor, you've shown some wonderful examples of the work that's being done, probably in one of the

harshest ecosystems, you know, working in desert ecosystems to harmonize, you know, renewable energy with land restoration goals. Have you seen other countries with a similar context of desert ecosystems adopt or learn from your practices?

For some country, solar plus storage for transport is very important because of the two wheels, two wheels. And then the cooking, the cooking, because cooking in the pasture, the cut of the tree. So if we can cook it from the solar, we can need less tree to cut. And next, in some developing country, there are some rich man, he need power, but electricity is not enough. So he can buy bigger solar to use for the air conditioning and refrigerator. So it is good. So, no, in the Whole across the world, every country, the solar power is cheaper than the gasoline, than the gasoline. So we must to invest to use more solar power and to free to the gasoline.

If I could just compliment on this, right before this session, I was in the plenary where there was a session on capacity building. And after we spoke on capacity building, China, took the floor and they were mentioning about technical assistance and capacity building support to other parties and including South-South cooperation. Our executive secretary was in China in June and they were also being offered to support other countries. So the example which we are seeing from China not only on solar but also the entire land restoration in the desert area is gold standard in a way. And China is now offering proactively to provide guidance and support to other countries. So this will be picking up after this COP. Thank you.

Thank you, Murli and Dr. Ha. Before we close, I want to briefly highlight an initiative that connects directly with today's discussion. I'd like to pass the floor to Julia for a few moments to showcase the initiative.

Thank you very much, and this slide is up. So yes, I want to, excuse me, announce a global call for case studies on accelerating inclusive and sustainable renewable energy development. Um, we've heard how important it is to have careful planning and managing and doing it inclusively resilient, uh, renewable energy systems. It's urgently needed. However, there isn't a lot of good practice examples yet, okay? So what we would like is to collect, and I will encourage also the panelists to share their best practice examples to further advance global knowledge on this and on sort of good practice on deployment of and development of renewable energies. So hence the launch for this global call. which hopes to establish the evidence base on best practice on implementing this nature positive renewable energy. So basically, ideally will feature in-country and community-led experiences, foster peer learning and strengthen international dialogue on how to advance renewables with clear environmental and biodiversity outcomes while simultaneously delivering on energy and climate objectives. This is an initiative of UNEP working together with the International Renewable Energy Agency, IRENA, as well as IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the World Wide Fund, and Clean Action. It is supported by the UNEP Government of Norway Energy for Development Collaboration, which strengthens environmental governance and management in partner countries in Africa and South Asia. So we are inviting contributions from government, civil society, researchers, development partners, private sector and community actors to document those practical experiences related to the environmental, social and governance dimensions of renewable energy development. The thematic focus on case studies includes all form of renewable energy, but especially solar, wind, hydropower, geothermal, electrification, including electrical grids, transmission and distribution, with focus areas on land use and land restoration, compatible renewable energy development, water use and water resource management and transboundary cooperation, biodiversity management and conservation, stakeholder engagement and inclusive participation, pollution prevention, circularity, and end of cycle management, and disaster risk management and climate resilience of renewable energy systems. So there will be a global webinar where you can hear more about this that will be held on the 15th of September at 1.30 PM Central European time, summertime. And I think there is a QR code here that you can scan and you can get the details and register for the webinar. So, um, this, uh, webinar will aim to promote this multi-stakeholder dialogue between government, industry, civil society on this energy, environment, climate, uh, nexus. So the expected outcome of this call, sorry, if you contribute your call, what you can expect rather, if you can contribute your best practice is you might be invited to present our international events organized by the partners. You'll be able to present at UNEP's global webinar series. It will be published in a global compendium of case studies and be featured in the IUCN Panorama Knowledge Platform. So please, contribute your experiences and best practices to this call. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Julia. We'll keep this slide up so that after this conversation, if you want to scan the QR code, you'll be able to do so. And with that, we reach the end of our session. Lots of wonderful messages and takeaways from this session. But I think the one thing that really stands out to me and my biggest takeaway is that renewable energy transition is happening and it is essential, but how the transition sort of meets land is something that we can shape together. And all the questions that's asked today and beyond, these questions are, if these questions are considered from the beginning, from the planning stage, renewable energy does not necessarily have to sit in competition with biodiversity, restoration, all livelihoods, for example. So I think there's a real opportunity to design these agendas together and would love to see these conversations go beyond. I know Murli already has an idea which he mentioned on the economics of solar. So keep these conversations going even outside of the stage. And if you'd like to have a conversation with any of these panel members beyond the stage as well, please feel free to do so. I do hope to see all of you at the Action Dome in the coming two weeks. We do have a lot of incredible events coming up. There are QR codes on the tables. We do have volunteers and colleagues at the tables as well. So do scan them and I hope to engage with you, be a part of the conversations at COP and beyond. Thank you so much to our panelists and the incredible audience that we had today. Thank you. You should take it further.