Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
offshore wind turbines to restrict the growth of this new energy source
until this has been explored further.
99
As the distinction drawn between sustainable and unsustainable bio-
fuels under the Renewable Energy Directive illustrates, policy options
that are ostensibly preferable when compared to each other in isolation
may be unacceptable in particular circumstances because of their eco-
logical effects on places where they are deployed. One purpose of the
legal framework for planning that I propose in
Chapter 5
is to prevent
development and actions that would harm ecosystem functionality.
100
The policy-making process should also address this situation in two
ways. The
rst is by making clear, perhaps in a general planning policy
statement, that recourse to options which would cause ecological harm
when employed in certain contexts should not be permitted. Some out-
comes, such as those referred to in the Renewable Energy Directive that
would result in the degradation of highly biodiverse areas or a signi
cant
net increase in greenhouse gas emissions as stored carbon is emitted, can
be identi
ed at the policy level as impermissible. The prohibition should
also be extended to uses of land and of marine areas that are identi
ed as
being incompatible with the goal of supporting ecosystem functionality
through the planning process.
Con
ict between policy options that appear ecologically preferable
to others on their face, but that can occasion ecological harm when
deployed, could arise where their claims to be environmentally bene
cial
derive from their potential contribution to decarbonisation. The politi-
cal imperative to mitigate risks of climate change may be used to justify
actions that have adverse environmental effects because they could also
reduce carbon emissions.
101
For example, the UK
s national planning
policy statement on energy infrastructure advises decision-makers that
concerns over environmental harm should not automatically prevent the
authorisation of projects where they will contribute to decarbonising
'
99
A. Gillespie,
'
The Precautionary Principle in the Twenty-
rst Century: A Case Study of
Noise Pollution in the Ocean
'
(2007) 22 The International Journal of Marine and
Coastal Law,81
-
Renewable Energy vs. Biodiversity: Policy Con
icts and the Future of
Nature Conservation
'
'
(2011) 21 Global Environmental Change,1195
-
208; K. Rietig,
'
Sustainable Climate Policy Integration in the European Union
'
(2013) 23 Environmental
Policy and Governance,297
310; S. Owens and R. Cowell, Land and Limits: Interpreting
Sustainability in the Planning Process, 2nd ed. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2011), pp. 13
-
-
15.
