It is necessary to improve social acceptance and minimise the environmental impacts of renewables.
The decarbonisation of the energy sector requires tools and mechanisms to ensure that the energy transition is carried out in a fair, sustainable and equitable way.
Renewable projects must leave tax benefits in the territory, as well as creating jobs and useful public infrastructure that promotes self-consumption among the local population.
Madrid, 10 October 2025 – Fundación Renovables published this Friday the Guide for the deployment of renewable energies in a way that respects the environment and the territory, a methodological document designed to ensure that energy projects are implemented in an orderly manner and maximise local and environmental benefits.
The document is part of Red2Red’s GalxClima Laboratories project on local action groups and the climate emergency, and brings together the essence of several debate and dialogue workshops involving territorial and social actors in the energy transition.
Decarbonising the energy system is crucial in the fight against the climate emergency. To achieve this, Spain must make every effort to deploy renewable technologies that gradually replace fossil generation. Specifically, the target is for renewable energy to account for 48% of total energy consumption by 2030 and 81% of electricity generation by the same year.
The need to accelerate decarbonisation requires tools that ensure the energy-transition process is orderly, fair, equitable and sustainable. In other words, the development of renewable installations must have social support and respect the environment. It is necessary to improve social acceptance and minimise the environmental impacts of renewables.
This guide is therefore presented as a tool to achieve that goal. Although there are no universal measures, since each territory has its own social, economic and environmental characteristics, we highlight some measures that can be effective in most cases:
- The creation of intermunicipal compensation funds. These should be financed with the revenue generated by renewable-energy projects.
- Monitoring intramunicipal inequalities. In some cases, developers manage permits with one local council even though the project is located in a smaller district or affects neighbouring municipalities. This tool should ensure that all localities and population centres receive benefits and are involved in the processes.
- Promoting participatory governance. It is essential to establish criteria for balanced territorial planning. Projects must be redistributed and not concentrated in the same area, reducing pressure on any one territory.
- Translating the economic benefits of renewable projects into real improvements for the local population. This includes job creation, improved public services and the construction and/or improvement of social infrastructure.
Applying these guidelines will help accelerate decarbonisation at local and regional level, while also boosting the local economy and generating municipal tax revenue. Fundación Renovables also considers it essential that, during the process, local energy communities are promoted to encourage self-consumption and reduce energy costs for local citizens.
Finally, the deployment of renewables must respect nature and biodiversity. This means, of course, that projects must not be located in any protected area such as Natura 2000 or SPAs. It is therefore urgent to develop and geolocate, at national and regional level, the so-called Renewable Acceleration Areas. These areas must have zero environmental impact, as established by the Renewable Energy Directive III.
