bears

... evtl. ...

... holds an increasing ...

Würde ich sagen.

Der Umstieg auf erneuerbare Energien birgt ein wachsendes Risikopotenzial --> Der Umstieg auf erneuerbare Energien ist zunehmend riskant

What's the verb that collocates with "potential"? Or just say: .... is increasingly risky.

... brings with it ...

e.g.

...presents increasing risks...

I second #1

'bears' would be fine, IMO.

Since it is a about an "Umstieg," that is a change from something old to something new, "brings with it" made more sense to me. But that's just me. "Bears'" on the other hand, doesn't work at all for me.

I'm inclined to agree with Dude;
things like "smoking presents risks during pregnancy" prompted me to suggest "presents" - I feel there's a vague connection with something developing within - weird thought ? never mind :-)

German's transition to renewable energy is fraught with potential risks.

maybe

#11 hits the nail on the head. Not 'maybe', but 'certainly'.

Definitely agree about "fraught"; but wasn't there a discussion fairly recently about "potential" being redundant in "potential risks"?

@mikefm I remember the discussion. And I can relate to the arguments there, to a certain extent.

But the matter is not quite clear-cut, I think.

I hate to be a nay-sayer (again), but "birgt" and "fraught with" are by no means the same, IMO.

Duden says "bergen" is (also) synonymous with "verbergen, verstecken, verhüllen." (Obviously, its other meaning, "retten, in Sicherheit bringen," is not applicable here.)
"Fraught with" means "filled with or destined to result in something undesirable."

Now, if risks are "hidden" in something, such as this change or transition, that's not the same as the transition being full of risks that are destined to result in bad things. To me, therefore, "fraught with" is more of an interpretation than a translation.

Edit: the OP also says "wachsendes Risikopotenzial," so if the transition is already fraught with risks, how can those risks - or their potential - then be on the increase?

hmm; iow you think "birgt" means hidden, not yet apparent, possibly unexpected risks? Like "birgt Gefahren" e.g.

iow?

Yes, like "birgt Gefahren." That's not the same as "fraught with danger," IMO.

In other words -;) it needs to be "fraught with hidden/potential dangers" e.g. - I think qualifying fraught works?

"birgt" doesn't indicate how many or few there are; could be a couple, could be more. "fraught with," on the other hand, usually implies plenty, a lot, full of, etc.

According to the logic of #15 the adjective 'potential' would cure the discrepancy: fraught with potential risk.

Well, that's splitting hairs.
BTW: We all love splitting hairs, don't we?

It's why we're here.

Etwas in sich bergen bedeutet im Deutschen "etwas enthalten, etwas in sich tragen", erlaubt also Lesarten, die das mit sich bringen und das in sich enthalten und das verhüllen und schützen betonen. To be fraught with...., also mit etwas behaftet sein, bedeutet etwas Negatives an sich haben, etwas als Mangel mit sich bringen. Ist also auch okay. Ich halte Dudes und auch Stonehenges Lösung für richtig.

oh dear, how true - and I don't have many more hairs to split ;-)

As has been mentioned before, "potential risks" may be an exercise in redundancy.

Germany's switch/ing to renewable energy is inherently risky.