Fact sheet

This briefing paper, "Re-Assessing Greater Mekong Subregion Energy Investments", provides an overview and critical analysis of the large-scale energy investments prioritized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and World Bank in the Mekong region. Case studies focus on hydropower-related projects in Lao PDR that are intended for exporting electricity to Thailand and Vietnam. This resource can be used for advocacy at the ADB and World Bank, as well as for research purposes. Download the briefing in: English Vietnamese Thai Khmer

This briefing on the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) energy investments is jointly issued by Mekong Watch and International Rivers. It provides analysis for advocates in the region to hold the Asian Development Bank and World Bank accountable for conducting due diligence when considering financing for hydropower projects and transmission line investments as part of the GMS portfolio. In particular, it calls on these institutions to thoroughly consider financing energy options that would be genuinely renewable, sustainable and respect the rights of communities.

Given its fraught dams legacy, the World Bank promised that the Nam Theun 2 Dam in Laos would serve as a new model for sustainable hydropower when it approved the project in 2005. The World Bank has since cited the project’s purported success to justify scaling up lending for large hydro globally. Ten years later, does the claim of Nam Theun 2 as a success story still hold water? Download this factsheet: English | Thai | Khmer | Vietnamese | Lao

As it rejoins a worldwide dam boom, the World Bank claims that the major impacts that characterized its dam legacy are a thing of the past. But the Bank’s more recent history demonstrates that benefits of its large hydro portfolio have been significantly overstated, while its track record on addressing the environmental and social harms of its dam projects remains seriously flawed. Is the Bank failing poor communities with its hydro-heavy investments? This is the first in a series exploring key issues concerning the World Bank’s role in supporting large dams.

To support local NGOs and communities understanding of the different standards and commitments applicable to Sinohydro projects around the world, we have developed two user guides to Sinohydro’s environmental policies to reflect the differentiated levels of responsibilities when undertaking hydropower projects overseas. In most cases, Sinohydro plays the role of EPC Contractor (Equipment, Procurement and Construction), responsible for building the project but not developing or operating the completed hydropower dam. However, in a growing number of cases, Sinohydro has played the role of p

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) was formally established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2011, although the groundwork was laid in the Copenhagen Accord of 2009. It aims “to make a significant and ambitious contribution to the global efforts towards attaining the goals set by the international community to combat climate change.” But the Green Climate Fund is under threat. There’s nothing (yet) in the Fund’s rules to stop it from financing false solutions like “clean” coal, natural gas fracking, destructive dams, or even nuclear power

FLOODING OUT A NATURAL WONDER The governments of Zambia and Zimbabwe are moving forward with plans to build the Batoka Gorge Dam, not far downstream from the magnificent Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River. Batoka is a large gorge of immense beauty, carved by the Zambezi into the strata of basalt rock over hundreds of thousands of years. The huge hydropower dam (it would be one of Africa’s tallest) would create a large reservoir that would impact a UNESCO World Heritage Site, reduce river-based tourism, and drown habitat for endangered bird species.

Rendering of GERD Ethiopia is building one of the largest dams in the world, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the River Nile near the Sudan border. The dam will flood 1,680 square kilometers of forest in northwest Ethiopia (an area about four times the size of Cairo), displace approximately 20,000 people in Ethiopia, and create a reservoir that will hold around 70 billion cubic meters of water – equivalent to the entire annual flow of the Blue Nile at the Sudan border. The project’s projected electricity capacity of 6,000MW seems to have been exaggerated. Poor Planning Alth

HYDROPOWER FOR MINES AND EXPORT, NOT THE POORThe Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been ‘rebuilding’ its power grid as part of the war-torn country’s reconstruction since 2003. Despite the millions of dollars of donor funding put into this, today only 9% of Congo’s 70 million people have access to electricity – about 30% in urban areas and an alarming 1% in rural areas. Lack of access to modern electricity services impairs the health, education and income-generating potential of millions of Congolese people. The Congolese government set a highly aggressive target to provide 60%

The governments of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam are planning to build eleven large hydropower dams on the Lower Mekong River. If built, these dams would destroy the river’s rich biodiversity and threaten the food security of millions of people. This factsheet provides an overview of the controversy around the proposed dams.