Environmental groups challenge Portugal's renewable energy zoning plan

Portugal's public consultation on the Programa Setorial das Zonas de Aceleração para a Implantação de Energias Renováveis, which closed this week, drew over 8,300 submissions. Rewilding Portugal and Quercus both issued critical opinions, arguing the plan lacks limits on project concentration, ignores cumulative environmental impacts, and fails to protect wildlife corridors for species like the Iberian wolf and lynx. Quercus also criticised the plan's scale, noting it covers roughly 7% of mainland Portugal despite estimates that 1% would meet solar targets, and questioned removing Reserva Ecológica Nacional protections. Municipalities, including several represented by the national municipalities association, have also publicly rejected the proposal.