Forests

At the current rate, MA is expected to lose up to 158,000 more acres of forest to solar projects. Large scale solar projects across Massachusetts have already destroyed thousands of acres of forest habitat that promote biodiversity, store CO2, and support our state’s communities.

Carbon

Solar projects across Massachusetts continue to deforest tens of thousands of acres of forest land that otherwise would store and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. The results from deforested solar array projects between 2010-2020 found a loss of over 500,000 metric tons of CO2.

A MA Audubon/Harvard Forest study finds that: "Our trees alone contain the equivalent amount of carbon as in five years’ of statewide fossil fuel emissions. Forest soils contain a similar amount. Beyond storage, forests are also actively capturing carbon from the atmosphere at a rate equivalent to 10 percent of our current GHG emissions.”

Deforestation negates one of the best tools we have for drawing carbon dioxide back out of the atmosphere: forest carbon sequestration.

Ground-mounted solar array off Route 44 in Carver MA.

Impact on Biodiversity

Solar installations have fragmented ecosystems, disrupted animal movements and threatened endangered species.

Western and Southeastern MA have seen the largest number of solar projects built. These areas contain Massachusetts’ most threatened species in addition to the Pine Barrens; an extremely rare and disappearing habitat home to a number of endangered species.

10% of the solar projects built between 2010-2020 intruded on core wildlife habitat while 11% intruded on critical natural landscapes defined by the state (Growing Solar, Protecting Nature).

Solar installations cause fragmentation and disruption to our forest ecosystems, reducing our ability to rely on them be resilient to the challenges caused by climate change.