Reservoir Emissions / Reports

The International Hydropower Association released a four–page document entitled "Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Reservoirs" at the UN climate convention negotiations in Milan in December 2003. The IHA concludes that hydropower contributes very little to climate change when compared to fossil fuel generating options. The IHA’s assertions are variously irrelevant, incomplete or simply wrong.

Abstract

The International Hydropower Association (IHA) asserts that hydropower has a very low, or even positive impact on climate change because reservoirs (i.e., artificial lakes) sequester large amounts of carbon. The important question is whether reservoirs are important sinks for anthropogenic carbon. IHA uses an estimate indicating that reservoirs sequester 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions.

It’s baloney and it’s much overblown . . . Methane is produced quite substantially
in the rain forest and no one suggests cutting down the rain forest.

Karolyn Wolf, spokeswoman for the US National Hydropower Association
responding to International Rivers press release on
greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs, 1995