Don’t sideline Scotland’s wildlife in the race to net zero

By Jason Rose

THE “decline of oil and gas” dominated the headlines last week after the

Scottish Government published its draft energy strategy.

The shift away from fossil fuels and toward renewables is a welcome one if

we are to help tackle the climate crisis. However, buried within the

strategy was a reference to a tension that exists between renewables and

nature, and there is a risk that this is overlooked in the race to net zero.

The Government’s plans talk of “trade-offs” that must be carefully managed.

It’s a recognition that renewable energy developments have an impact on

importance species of wildlife and their habitats. Perhaps most obviously

offshore wind poses a huge risk to our already under-pressure seabird

populations. Take for example the recent application by SSE Renewables for

its Berwick Bank wind farm, at the mouths of the firths of Forth and Tay.

This 300-turbine development, covering 1,000 square kilometres, is

estimated – by SSE Renewables’ own modelling – to kill hundreds of

kittiwakes, gannets and guillemots each year.

Seabirds have suffered serious declines in recent decades due to industrial

fishing taking their food, invasive species of mammals eating eggs and

chicks, and non-native plant life restricting nesting sites. And over the

past year we’ve seen the devastation of bird flu.

The idea that you can accept serious losses of wildlife in one column of a

balance sheet, if you find ways to increase it in another, will leave most

nature lovers and experts uneasy. But it is an increasingly real prospect.

The Berwick Bank application recommends measures such as predator control

and reduced fishing, which SSE Renewables says would more than compensate.

But the latter measure is not within the developer’s gift; it would be up

Don’t sideline Scotland’s wildlife in the race to net zero - Herald