The requirement to deliver a 10% net gain in biodiversity has applied to Town and Country Planning projects since early 2024. Now the government is consulting on extending this to Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects. Regen has responded to the consultation with a focus on what this means for renewables.
Regen supports the introduction of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), especially clean energy developments. Clean energy infrastructure can be designed to benefit nature locally, as well as globally by mitigating climate change, and many renewables sites are already making significant biodiversity improvements.
By incorporating habitat creation or restoration into sites, renewable projects can help meet local targets for nature restoration as well as national targets for clean power, delivering multifunctional land use in line with principles set out in the government’s recent land use consultation.
With large solar and onshore wind farms and electricity network infrastructure classified as NSIPs, extending BNG presents an opportunity to deliver these local environmental benefits at a large scale.
Our response has been shaped by engagement with our members and the wider renewable energy sector.
The biodiversity and climate crises are closely linked, and the energy transition has an important role to play in addressing both. Looking forwards to the development of strategic energy plans, local nature recovery strategies and the land use framework, Regen will continue to support clean energy projects which contribute to each, delivering benefits for the energy system, ecosystems and communities.
For more information on this topic see Regen's recent guide to integrating clean energy with nature restoration or join our next planning working group on October 1.
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