Policy integration in the EU under crisis: shifting the balance between renewable energy expansion and biodiversity protection

Since 2019, the European Green Deal (EGD) has sought to harmonise efforts across several sectors towards a long-term goal of carbon neutrality. In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the 2022 REPowerEU Plan positioned decarbonisation as a key means to reduce dependence on imports of Russian fossil fuels. Central to achieving this goal is reforming the permitting processes for renewable energy projects, particularly regarding environmental rules and principles. We trace how the EU has addressed the challenge of balancing renewables and biodiversity concerns by identifying and explaining the effects of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 on policy integration. Drawing on the processual approach to policy integration, our study identifies three phases of integration of biodiversity concerns into EU renewable energy policy. The most recent phase disrupted ongoing efforts towards policy integration initiated by the EGD and shifted the balance towards accelerated renewable energy deployment over biodiversity concerns. Employing insights from the EU crisis literature and focusing on the effects of the crisis on actor-level factors of policy integration (capacity, core beliefs, commitment), we unpack how the crisis contributed to reducing policy integration of biodiversity into renewable policy.