Abstract. With the Paris Agreement, it was decided to limit global warming to below two degrees. Hence, national governments are currently confronted with the challenge of implementing concrete climate protection measures. This poses a major challenge especially for Germany, as the phase-out of low-emission nuclear energy additionally increases the pressure to rapidly promote the expansion of renewable energies. Unfortunately, there is a great variety of potential regional energy strategies, which differ considerably in terms of landscape implications. Therefore, we analysed the spatial restructuring of energy supply and the associated social conflicts. To do so, we modelled potential regional energy landscapes that can be derived from the two-degree target and visualised them based on Geographical Information Systems by using five scenarios involving changes to the planning guidelines. The analyses reveal that the development of a carbon-neutral energy system is possible. Yet the potential spatial patterns of renewable energies differ considerably. Furthermore, it becomes obvious that spatial planning must take greater account of the perspectives of those social groups facing the installation of renewable energies in the very vicinity of their own living environment.

Potential spatio-temporal patterns of renewable energies that take into account international climate protection strategies have been neither analysed nor visualised exactly in terms of their landscape complexity. Furthermore, it is unclear what land uses would be prevalent in new energy landscapes, due to a lack of restrictions, and which social conflicts would be associated with these land use changes. There is no knowledge at all about the extent to which existing land use, which has emerged from a capitalistic order, affects the achievement of a carbon-neutral and socially just society. It is also not clear how far it is possible to identify alternative spatial patterns of sustainable energy transition by altering spatial restrictions concerning renewable energies. For this reason, we want to model and visualise a regional energy landscape that corresponds to the objectives of the UN Climate Conference in terms of its regional greenhouse gas balance in the electricity sector. In this regard, the study provides a detailed analysis of the landscape transformations that would occur in rural spaces if those values which attempt to link energy transition to the Paris Agreement were to prevail. The analyses reveal that a strict orientation of the expansion of renewable energies towards climate protection goals would strongly mechanise rural areas, thus significantly transforming their social patterns.

<p>To date, the spatio-temporal patterns of renewable energies brought about by a deployment that corresponds to internationally agreed climate protection goals, have been neither exactly analysed nor visualised. It is also unknown what land uses would be incorporated into these new energy landscapes due to a lack of spatial restrictions, and what social conflicts these land use changes may give rise to. Moreover, the extent to which existing land use, which is the product of a capitalist order, affects the achievement of a carbon-neutral society, has not been grasped at all. There is no knowledge about the feasibility of altering spatial restrictions for renewable energies in order to identify alternative spatial patterns of sustainable energy transition. Our objective is therefore to model and visualise a regional energy landscape whose greenhouse gas balance in the electricity sector corresponds to the target of the UN Climate Conference. The study provides a detailed analysis of the landscape transformations in rural spaces that would be caused if those forces which strive to link the energy transition to the values of the Paris Agreement were to win through. It is revealed that a precise alignment of the expansion of renewable energies with international climate protection targets would strongly mechanise rural areas and significantly transform their land use patterns.</p>