Figure 2
From: The potential land requirements and related land use change emissions of solar energy
Global land-cover changes by 2050 due to solar expansion, for a range of solar energy penetration levels and for an average efficiency of installed solar modules of 24% by 2050. The upper graphs shows total land cover changes by 2050 relative to 2015 within each region and the lower side shows the land cover changes in the rest of the world (leaking), indirectly driven by the penetration of solarland within the region. Positive land cover changes refer to increases and negative to land cover loss. See Section 3b in the SM for aggregated global land cover changes. Note that land cover changes do not correspond with land use changes: this figure compares total land cover in different scenarios of land-based solar energy penetration, but does not show which specific types of land convert to solarland (or any other type of land). Note that these land cover changes are based on simulated land use decisions driven by economic optimisation. See “Methods” section for more details.
