Report

Large Hydro Still a Large Problem for the CDM As the CDM approval process nears the point at which the first projects may soon be registered, large hydro projects continue to be a concern. In addition to the millions of credits already being claimed by CDM large hydro projects, many more have signalled an interest in using the CDM. At the same time, concerns about the non-additionality of large hydro projects has been borne out by the validation opinions for the Dutch CERUPT projects and the baseline methodology review of other large hydros, underlining the need to exclude them altogether. Als

The Good, the Bad and the Dammed UglyIn October 2002, International Rivers and CDM Watch published “Damming the CDM: Why Big Hydro is Ruining the Clean Development Mechanism.” The report showed that a significant proportion of proposed Clean Development Mechanism credits could be captured by “non-additional,” business-asusual, large hydro projects. “Damming the CDM” warned that this trend threatened to undermine the effectiveness and credibility of the Kyoto Protocol.The seven months since our report was released have seen positive and negative developments relating to hydro in the

The World Bank claims that its flagship carbon market vehicle – the Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) – is focussed primarily on renewables, and includes small hydro as one of the most common renewable technologies it is developing. This is deliberately misleading. The Bank includes hydro projects up to 43MW as “small hydro” in its calculations, many times the commonly accepted capacity limit of 10MW. In fact, of the 8 CDM hydro projects currently being developed by the PCF, 5 are in excess of 10MW and thus large hydro projects, not renewables. These 5 projects generate nearly twice as many

In a Centrally Dispatched Hydrothermal Interconnected Power SystemFrom the UNFCCC’s CDM Public Comment Form #NM0125 [Only completed sections of the form appear here. Full form may be downloaded from www.unfccc.int] A. Comment on the proposed new methodologies: I. Comments on the proposed new baseline methodology: Title of new baseline methodology:Baseline Methodology for New Capacity that Displaces Electricity Generation in a Centrally Dispatched Hydrothermal Interconnected Power System Conditions under which this methodology is applicable to other potential projects (e.g. project type, regi

A Report for COP8, New DelhiInternational Rivers and CDM Watch this week released a new report on the use of hydropower projects in the CDM. The report – "Damming the CDM" – shows that big hydro threatens the effectiveness and credibility of the CDM, and risks undermining the entire Kyoto Protocol by providing carbon reduction credits for projects that don’t actually reduce emissions.

A Toolkit for Communities, Activists, Consumers, and Workers The aluminum industry is the world’s most energy–intensive industry, and also one of the most polluting industries on the planet. With the industry increasingly looking for cheap energy in developing countries to fuel new smelters and to expand already–existing aluminum operations, pressure has mounted for construction of large hydroelectric dams to provide subsidized energy to the multinational operations. International Rivers has published this toolkit, "Foiling the Aluminum Industry – A Toolkit for Communities

Report Counters World Bank’s "High–Risk / High–Reward Strategy", NGOs Predict Increased Conflict Around Risky World Bank Projects As World Bank representatives gather in Dubai for the 2003 World Bank/IMF Annual Meetings, Environmental Defense, Friends of the Earth, and International Rivers released a report in response to the World Bank’s new "high–risk/high–reward" strategy in the water, forestry, and extractive industries sectors. The report, Gambling With People’s Lives, analyzes the World Bank’s ability to manage social an

Section 11.2.ii states that the simulation "will calculate downstream effects of the" various reservoir discharge scenarios. No further discussion or details are provided regarding this claim. It is not clear how the simulation model could calculate downstream effects, beyond rough estimates of streamflow. Section 11.2.iv states that "secondary hydropower generation is calculated and sold to the Republic of South Africa. The price for sold energy is assumed to be 75% of the import price." This assumption is used in the simulation model to estimate benefits of the Epupa Project, but it is not c

1. Executive Summary From a hydrologist’s point of view, the Feasibility Study of proposed hydroelectric power dams on the Cunene River has some serious deficiencies. In order of importance, they are: 1) The study is organised so as to be virtually inaccessible to even a careful reader. Separate pieces of the same subject matter are scattered in illogical places throughout the voluminous corpus of the study. 2) Flow data, and estimations in the absence of data, are of low reliability. The entire hydrological analysis is based on the premise that a meagre 12 year streamflow record from a