Institutions and processes for scaling up renewables: Run-of-river hydropower in British Columbia

• Tension exists between mitigating climate change through substantial renewable energy development and the local environmental impacts associated with this development. • The deployment of renewable energy technologies required for climate change mitigation is likely to lead to intensifying conflicts over land‐use. • For this deployment to be successful, institutions and processes must be able to integrate and consider trade‐offs related to goals and interests at different scales of decision making.