Skip to content

Green Killing Machines: The impact of renewable energy on wildlife and nature

Failure to protect nature and wildlife shames green organisations

Environmental organisations like the RSPB and the Campaign to Protect Rural England are betraying their members by failing to speak out about the devastation caused by the expansion of renewable energy projects all over the countryside. That’s according to a new paper from the Global Warming Policy Foundation, which examines renewables’ impact on the natural world.

According to the author, Andrew Montford, nature is already being hit hard by decarbonisation plans:

“The dirty secret of renewable energy is that it requires huge areas of our countryside and this is going to get a lot worse in the future. Wind turbines already kill huge numbers of birds and bats, and yet the RSPB barely opposes a development. Wind and solar power plants scar our landscapes and yet the CPRE say nothing either. ”

And this situation is going to get a lot worse. Net zero carbon emissions will mean a vast expansion of wind and solar farms together with massive expansion of biofuel crops cultivation causing wholesale devastation of the UK’s landscape and wildlife.

As Montford explains:

“The huge wind turbines that are envisaged for the future are going to be hundreds of metres tall, and there are going to tens of thousands of them. Birds won’t stand a chance.”

Andrew Montford: Green Killing Machines – The impact of renewable energy on wildlife and nature (PDF)

Green Killing Machines is the second in a series of papers on renewables and the environment published by the GPWF this week. See also The Impact of Wind Energy on Wildlife and the Environment