Open Access

Lukas Greßhake, Stephan Bosch, Robin Tutunaru, Uwe Holzhammer

• Local energy transitions are shaped by diverse stakeholder perspec-tives on land use, reflecting competing values, knowledge systems,and political views. This study applies the landscape services frame-work to systematically assess renewable energy (RE) suitabilityacross different landscapes, capturing both ecological and socio-cultural dimensions. Through stakeholder surveys in two Germanregions and statistical comparative analysis, we reveal how suitabil-ity perceptions vary significantly: (1) between stakeholder groups(e.g. conservationists vs. developers), (2) across regions (industrialvs. ecological-cultural contexts), and (3) even within groups sharingsimilar objectives. Key findings show strong preference for REdevelopment in industrial and agricultural zones (‘acceptance cor-ridors’) and opposition in ecologically sensitive areas, though withnotable regional exceptions. The landscape services approachproves effective in mapping these conflicts and consensus areas,providingLocal energy transitions are shaped by diverse stakeholder perspec-tives on land use, reflecting competing values, knowledge systems,and political views. This study applies the landscape services frame-work to systematically assess renewable energy (RE) suitabilityacross different landscapes, capturing both ecological and socio-cultural dimensions. Through stakeholder surveys in two Germanregions and statistical comparative analysis, we reveal how suitabil-ity perceptions vary significantly: (1) between stakeholder groups(e.g. conservationists vs. developers), (2) across regions (industrialvs. ecological-cultural contexts), and (3) even within groups sharingsimilar objectives. Key findings show strong preference for REdevelopment in industrial and agricultural zones (‘acceptance cor-ridors’) and opposition in ecologically sensitive areas, though withnotable regional exceptions. The landscape services approachproves effective in mapping these conflicts and consensus areas,providing actionable insights for spatially sensitive RE planning. Ourresults underscore the need to complement technical siting criteriawith structured assessments of social landscape values to enablejust and locally accepted energy transitions.…