Insect-friendly outdoor lighting: why it matters and how retailers can implement it

26.11.2025

For retailers, artificial lighting in outdoor areas, parking lots, and on façades is essential for ensuring safety and maintaining brand visibility. However, it also poses a growing environmental challenge: light pollution and its harmful effects on local biodiversity.

Nocturnal flying insects – indispensable to ecosystems – are strongly attracted to light sources with high blue and UV components. This so-called “vacuum-cleaner effect” disrupts their orientation, impairs reproduction, and often leads to death from exhaustion.

Technology leaders in the retail sector are therefore faced with the task of implementing modern lighting solutions that meet regulatory requirements while also protecting insects.

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Strategies for converting to insect-friendly outdoor lighting

More and more companies and municipalities are adopting insect-friendly lighting outdoors. Targeted retrofits can protect species, reduce light pollution, and save energy at the same time.

LED light sources with warm-white color temperatures

Lighting represents an important contribution retailers can make to species protection – while also offering an opportunity to save energy. Companies such as the supermarket chain SPAR show how a gradual rollout can succeed. Since 2022, new buildings and renovations have been equipped with specialized LED systems designed primarily to reduce the attraction effect.

A key element is the choice of light source: only warm-white LEDs with low UV and blue emissions are used. Proven measures include lighting without UV output and color temperatures of no more than 2700 K, or the extremely warm tone known as “PC amber.”

Shielded LEDs protect insects from the light-trap effect

Several flying insects gather around a bright lamp at night in a dark environment.

Swarms of insects in the beam of light – an image that shows how conventional outdoor lighting attracts numerous nocturnal species.
© Adobe Express

A research team led by the IGB (Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries) has developed insect-friendly street lighting and tested it in several regions of Germany. In these trials, conventional streetlamps were replaced with specially adapted, shielded LED fixtures that direct light only onto the roadway and emit very little stray light.

The results show that this design – by reducing scattered light – significantly decreases the attraction of flying insects. The researchers therefore recommend using such customized, shielded luminaires in the future to better protect insect populations.

Designing future-oriented luminaires

Just as important as light color is precise light control. Traditional luminaires such as box or mushroom-style fixtures often emit light directly into insects’ flight paths. Innovative solutions like the streetlight developed by Selux in collaboration with the IGB and TU Berlin rely on “cut-off” optics and dark-sky technology. These systems direct the light straight downward, preventing spill light into the night sky or onto the mast. The resulting recommendations covering light-intensity distribution curves and luminaire design will serve as a guide for municipalities and businesses going forward.

Aerial view of a large illuminated parking lot and building at night, surrounded by roads and cars

A large, well-lit parking lot at a retail business – an example of how extensive outdoor lighting can contribute to light emission at night.
© Adobe Express

One light, two benefits: protecting insects while saving energy

Another key factor in reducing light pollution is intelligent, demand-based lighting control. SPAR uses motion sensors in delivery areas and adjusts parking-lot lighting dynamically based on ambient brightness. Full illumination of canopies and exterior signage is activated only shortly before and after opening hours. This ensures that light is available only when truly needed. Dimming interior lighting during preparation and closing routines further reduces energy consumption and relieves pressure on the ecosystem.

Recommendations at a glance

Measure

Description

Goal

Color temperature (K)

Use warm light with a maximum of 2700 K or “PC amber.”

Reduce attraction by minimizing blue and UV wavelengths.

Sehr hoch (bis zu 97)

Illuminance

Avoid lighting areas more brightly than necessary and stay within regulatory limits.

Lower light emissions; assess reflectivity of illuminated surfaces.

Weit & dynamisch: 2243 K–9207 K, steuerbar

Lighting controls

Equip poles with motion sensors or time controls.

Ensure lighting is need-based and otherwise dimmed or switched off.

Sehr hoch

Night-sky optics

Use luminaires with optics that prevent unnecessary upward spill light.

Direct light precisely downward; preserve habitats of nocturnal insects.

Schmalbandig, hochkontrolliert

How can retailers combine sustainability with attractive lighting?

Switching to insect-friendly outdoor lighting is a necessary response to both environmental and regulatory developments. Modern LED technology combined with smart controls enables retailers to actively contribute to insect protection without compromising safety or the appeal of their outdoor spaces. The focus lies on reducing light pollution and optimizing energy consumption, an important investment in sustainability and in meeting future environmental standards for the retail sector.

Sources: SPAR press release, selux article, Phys.org news

Portrait of Sven Reck, freelancer for the EuroShop editorial team, in front of a red background; copyright: Sven Reck

Author: Sven Reck | EuroShop.mag

Sven Reck has been supporting EuroShop.mag as a freelancer for several years. Among other things, he creates photo series on store design, writes articles on best practices in retail marketing and use cases on new technologies in the retail sector. He also enters the content into the CMS and ensures user-friendly presentation and search engine optimization.