NEW REPORT REVEALS THE GREEN TRANSITION'S LAND FOOTPRINT

First global assessment finds 328 million hectares targeted for renewables and transition minerals, 50% of mineral concessions overlap the lands of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

[ROME], 5 November 2026 – The race to net zero now claims 328 million hectares of land, an area equivalent to the size of India, according to Spotlighting the hidden territorial footprint of the global energy transition, published today by the International Land Coalition (ILC) and the Land Matrix, together with a dozen research, UN, and civil society partners. It is the first global assessment of where the energy transition is being built, and on whose land, which combines a new spatial analysis by the Land Matrix, backed up by case studies from communities on the frontline.

Much of that land is home to Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Almost one in four hectares of large-scale renewable energy projects, and 50% of land under transition mineral concessions, overlaps with their lands.

The hidden footprint of net zero

The footprint is split between energy generation and mineral extraction. Utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal projects occupy 159 million hectares. Concessions for copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite, and rare earths cover a further 239 million hectares.

Clean energy is far more land- and material-intensive than the systems it replaces. Solar and wind need 10 to 100 times more land per megawatt than fossil fuel infrastructure. An electric vehicle needs six times the mineral inputs of a conventional car, and onshore wind nine times the minerals of an equivalent gas plant.

Indigenous and community lands on the frontline

The study finds that 40.5 million hectares of renewable energy projects, an area larger than Japan, overlap with Indigenous and community lands. Mining cuts deeper still: 50% of all transition mineral concessions, some 120 million hectares, fall directly within legally claimed or demarcated Indigenous territories.

On the ground, the consequences are already visible. In Argentina, over 1.5 million hectares of lithium concessions have been granted on ancestral territories without free, prior and informed consent, drying wetlands that herders depend on. In Chile, solar parks enclose more than 4,000 hectares used by Diaguita communities, and in Brazil's semi-arid Northeast, wind and solar farms are pushing peasant families off collective lands.

Nearly 50 million hectares of protected areas overlap with mining concessions and utility-scale renewables, and more than 15 million hectares of Key Biodiversity Areas are targeted by transition mineral projects. The report warns that without safeguards, the transition risks creating new "green sacrifice zones".

There is still time to get it right

Most of this expansion is still in planning or exploration, often with lead times of 8 to 15 years, giving governments, investors, and developers a window to act before concessions harden into disputes. The report calls for binding free, prior and informed consent, legal protection of customary and collective tenure, and spatial planning that protects community lands and biodiversity.

Communities are already showing what that looks like. In Suriname, the Saamaka people's customary governance protects 1.1 million hectares of intact rainforest. In the Philippines, the Ikalahan–Kalanguya community's land management removes 147,500 tonnes of CO₂ a year, equal to taking more than 45,000 cars off the road.

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The International Land Coalition (ILC) is the world’s most diverse, member-led alliance advancing land rights to end poverty and protect the planet. We drive national and global change from the ground up, rooted in the needs and solutions of the people and communities who live on and from the land. www.landcoalition.org

The Land Matrix is an independent land monitoring initiative that promotes transparency and accountability around large-scale land acquisitions across the world. By making its extensive database, widely regarded as one of the most reliable and comprehensive of its kind, freely available, the initiative aims to support greater public involvement in critical decisions that affect the lives of land-users and strengthen the positions of more vulnerable stakeholders. www.landmatrix.org.