Solar energy projects put food security at risk | Science

Solar photovoltaic deployment is essential to promote renewable energy transition, phase down coal-fired power plants, and achieve the Paris Agreement temperature goals (1). However, large-scale solar photovoltaic deployment requires a vast amount of land, and a substantial number of solar photovoltaic projects have been built on farmland, threatening food security (2, 3). Given the ambitious climate pledges of signatory countries to the Paris Agreement, the area of land required to deploy global solar photovoltaics in the coming decades is expected to rise (4). Governments must act now to mitigate the fierce competition for land between solar energy and crops.