As the climate crisis accelerates, the hydropower industry is attempting to recast large dams as a climate-friendly energy source. Nothing could be further from the truth.
First, dam reservoirs (particularly in the tropics) are a globally significant source of methane, one of the world’s most potent greenhouse gases. Free-flowing rivers, on the other hand, play a crucial role in trapping carbon.
Second, dams are uniquely vulnerable to floods and droughts – which are only increasing in frequency and severity with climate change – raising the risk of dam failures during floods and power outages when reservoirs run dry.
Third, big dam reservoirs flood forests and agricultural land and destroy fisheries, while leaving downstream wetlands and forests dry. These impacts make it harder for indigenous and rural peoples, and the ecosystems they depend on, to adapt to climate change.
Our Work to Fight False Climate Solutions
We expose the truth about hydropower’s dismal performance in an era of climate change and campaign to prevent scarce climate dollars from financing destructive dams in the name of reducing carbon emissions. Instead, we propose a socially-just energy revolution to cut the use of fossil fuels, deliver modern energy to those who need it most, and preserve our life-giving rivers.
Learn More
- Dirty Energy – Out of the Green Climate Fund (2015)
- Wrong Climate for Big Dams (2011) (Also available in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Hindi, Bangla, German, Urdu, Russian)
- Development Mechanism (2008)
- Do Large Dams Benefit the Environment? (The Rift, 2019)
Latest News
- STATEMENT | Climate Bonds Initiative’s new hydropower standard is a false climate solution
Last week, the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) announced their approval of a new bond certification scheme for hydropower.1 This represents an unfortunate setback for the climate and for meaningful efforts… - PRESS RELEASE | Report: Rapid gains in giving rivers rights
Rulings loom as UNGA meets on biodiversity OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA—A new report by the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, Earth Law Center, and International Rivers finds that a movement… - JOINT STATEMENT | Climate Bonds Initiative must abandon its misguided attempt to greenwash hydropower
By: 276 civil society organizations On behalf of 276 civil society organizations from around the world, we are calling upon the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) to abandon the certification of destructive… - Hydropower’s Dangerous Bid To Re-cast Itself As ‘Green’
By: Michael Simon This article was originally published on the International Business Times This month, the 3,000 inhabitants of Hasankeyf, Turkey, await rising floodwaters that will permanently drown their 12,000-year-old… - Activists Puncture Big Hydro’s Attempted Greenwash in Paris
By: Michael Simon There is no defensible way to continue damming the world’s rivers. That was the message that a powerful uprising of individuals, NGOs and social movements delivered to…