[RECORDING] Connecting Pollinator Corridors: Using evidence and monitoring to deliver a Nature-Positive grid

GINGR and the Renewables Grid Initiative (RGI) hosted Connecting Pollinator Corridors: Using evidence and monitoring to deliver a Nature-Positive grid on 11 December 2025 to explore the practical challenge of measuring biodiversity outcomes in energy infrastructure, and how pollinators can help reveal whether electricity corridors are truly Nature-Positive.

During this second session of Connecting Energies 2025: Civil Society Webinar Series, participants learnt how electricity corridors can become ecological assets rather than interruptions in the landscape. The webinar focused on how evidence drawn from field surveys, citizen science, and satellite monitoring can demonstrate measurable biodiversity gains in linear habitats, and how Integrated Vegetation Management can create stable, flower-rich mosaics beneath power lines. 

Across research, implementation, and governance perspectives, the session connected practical monitoring approaches to the wider challenge of aligning corridor management with asset management, policy disclosure, and Nature-Positive reporting standards.

Speakers & Presentations

• Dr Kimberly Russell, Associate Professor of Teaching, Rutgers University

  • Kimberly presented research showing that transmission line corridors can provide valuable habitat for wild bees when managed appropriately. She highlighted evidence that Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) can significantly outperform traditional mowing, supporting greater bee diversity and abundance, including specialist and parasitic species, more stem and wood nesters, and rare species recorded only in IVM sites. She also noted how structural diversity (dead wood, leaf litter, bare ground) and targeted enhancements such as pollinator-friendly seeding and plug planting can further strengthen outcomes. 

  • Presentation: Ecological benefits of transmission line corridors for bees

    
    

• Kendall Jefferys, Postdoctoral Research Associate, University of Oxford

  • Kendall explained how remote sensing can help scale pollinator habitat monitoring across large corridor networks. Examples included satellite imagery and drone data to quantify floral resources as proxies for pollinator abundance, LiDAR to capture 3D vegetation structure (including understory complexity linked to plant-pollinator interactions), and habitat suitability modelling using spectral bands. She also emphasised the value of edge habitats (forest-corridor transitions) for supporting diverse pollinator functional groups. 

  • Presentation: Earth Observation and remote sensing applications for monitoring

    
    

• Tiina Seppänen, Senior Expert, Land Use and Environment, Fingrid

  • Tiina shared practical approaches from Finland for delivering pollinator habitat measures in real-world rights-of-way, where TSOs typically have restricted rights of use rather than land ownership. Examples included landowner “idea cards”, financial support for traditional biotope maintenance, partnerships with conservation organisations, insect hotels at tower bases, and long-running grazing projects. She also highlighted ongoing work to optimise vegetation clearing cycles. 

  • Presentation: TSO implementation and working with landowners

    
    

• Adrián Maté, Environmental Coordinator – GINGR, Renewables Grid Initiative

  • Adrián set out how GINGR is advancing a framework to quantify Nature-Positive outcomes by translating complex ecological information into simple, comparable indicators, while also capturing impacts on people, including human experiences and perceptions. He highlighted how this supports clearer accountability and helps connect corridor management choices to emerging reporting expectations (including CSRD and TNFD).

  • Presentation: Creating measurable Nature-Positive metrics for grids

Discussion & Next Steps

Annika Lilliestam, Coordinator – GINGR, closed the session by keeping the discussion firmly grounded in what civil society needs to engage effectively: clarity on what constitutes credible evidence, and confidence that monitoring can remain accessible without sacrificing rigour. She also emphasised that evidence only becomes meaningful when it is connected to governance - translating monitoring results into decisions about corridor management, and into disclosures that can be understood, challenged, and improved over time.

The Q&A reinforced that ambition alone is not enough. Participants focused on how to move from promising practices to decision-relevant outcomes: demonstrating benefits beyond the corridor (including potential gains for nearby agriculture through pollination services), strengthening community involvement in corridor stewardship (particularly near urban areas), and planning at the landscape scale by accounting for corridor edges and complementary habitats rather than treating rights-of-way as isolated strips.

These questions speak directly to GINGR’s Linear Infrastructure Technical Working Group, which is developing and piloting a framework to measure how power lines contribute to nature and people’s well-being across the grid lifecycle, and to identify actions that deliver Nature- and People-Positive outcomes. The webinar provided timely, practice-oriented insights into what it takes to make corridor biodiversity outcomes visible, comparable, and operational for grid owners and stakeholders.

Overall, the session underscored a clear direction of travel: pollinators can serve as practical indicators, but credibility depends on combining multiple forms of evidence - field surveys, Earth Observation, and community knowledge - and embedding metrics from the outset. Done well, this approach supports monitoring that is auditable and comparable, while still sensitive to place-based ecological and cultural realities, helping ensure that the energy transition strengthens biodiversity and benefits communities.

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