Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum (HSAF)

Hydropower Industry Needs Standards, not Scorecards, to be Sustainable

Itaipú dam
Itaipú dam The International Hydropower Association (IHA) just launched the “Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol” (HSAP) at its bi-yearly Congress in the town of Foz do Iguaçú, Brazil, last week. The Protocol is in reality only a scorecard that rewards hydropower companies and financiers with a greenwashed stamp of approval; it does not represent a true step towards the actual practice of sustainability in the sector. The Protocol is a risky way of helping developers achieve true social and environmental sustainability, because it doesn’t require developers to meet any s

Greenwashing Dams Factsheet

Thursday, May 16, 2013
A dam industry effort threatens to greenwash dams and undermine the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) is a voluntary, non-binding auditing tool that allows dam builders to score the sustainability of their own dam projects. This civil society fact sheet examines how the HSAP works, its shortcomings, and why it could end up legitimizing destructive dams. The HSAP was created between 2007 and 2010 by the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum (HSAF), an initiative of the International Hydropower Association (IHA)

Greenwashing Dams

The HSAP: Weakening Global Dam Standards
Thursday, June 2, 2011
A dam industry effort threatens to greenwash dams and undermine the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams (WCD). The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) is a voluntary, non-binding auditing tool that allows dam builders to score the sustainability of their own dam projects. This civil society fact sheet examines how the HSAP works, its shortcomings, and why it could end up legitimizing destructive dams. The HSAP was created between 2007 and 2010 by the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum (HSAF), an initiative of the International Hydropower Association (IHA),

The HSAF Process – A Non-Starter?

The Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum (HSAF), a task force led by the dam industry, is currently preparing a new protocol to assess the sustainability of hydropower projects. A recent consultation found that the HSAF protocol will be “toothless” unless it incorporates clear minimum standards. The Forum says that it is seeking “broad endorsement” for its new assessment tool. So how did it respond to the key finding of its consultation? As I reported earlier on this blog, the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum is currently developing a new assessment tool for the hyd

The Dam Industry’s Brave New World

There was a time when we were all expected to follow the law. There was a time when we had to respect clear social and environmental standards if we wanted to build a dam with international funding. These days may soon be over if the hydropower industry has its way. A new initiative called the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Forum puts social and environmental rights and standards at risk.Over the last 20 years, the World Commission on Dams, the World Bank and various UN bodies issued standards and policies on the development of international infrastructure, mining and forestry proje
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