Sustainable hydropower and carbon finance

Issue paper
, 39 pages
PDF (2.12 MB)
17580IIED.pdf
Language:
English
Published: March 2016
ISBN: 9781784313029
Product code:17580IIED

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has helped finance more than 2000 hydropower projects, representing the largest source of OECD bilateral funding for hydropower. Europe, through its European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, has been the major supporter. However, environment and sustainability regulations intending to ensure ‘respect’ for the World Commission on Dams’ guidelines are falling short, prompting calls to use the industry-derived Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP).

This Issue paper explores CDM project data and finds that, under a healthy carbon price, the cost of the HSAP would not be a barrier to accessing carbon finance, and could even strengthen the carbon market.

Cite this publication

Soanes, M., Skinner, J. and Haas, L. (2016). Sustainable hydropower and carbon finance. .
Available at https://www.iied.org/17580iied