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
- Placing the Interests of the Public and Planet at the Center of Thailand’s Power Development Plan 2024
By Rin Sohsai and Tanya Lee Roberts-Davis. Originally published in the Bangkok Tribune. Opinion piece highlights are below. In the coming months, Thailand’s updated draft Power Development Plan (PDP 2024-2037) … Read more - Press Release | COP27: Groups warn of severe climate and human rights risk of new hydropower dams and schemes
Dams and hydropower schemes create major loss and damage, including producing significant amounts of methane, biodiversity loss, and community displacement. In a warming world, droughts and flooding make hydropower an … Read more - Brazil’s Legislative Assembly approves a law draft that prohibits the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Cuiabá River
Yesterday, the Legislative Assembly of the State of Mato Grosso in Brazil approved the law draft that prohibits the construction of dams along the entire length of the Cuiabá River. … Read more - 10 reasons why hydropower dams are a false climate solution
Originally published in Alternet by Josh Klemm and Eugene Simonov Not only does hydroelectric power fail to prevent catastrophic climate change, but it also renders countries more vulnerable to climate change while … Read more - The youth say NO to destructive large hydropower! – Alternative development exists!
By Ayesha DSouza, South Asia Program Coordinator. Mega Hydropower projects continue to be pushed in the fragile Indian Himalayas, often at the cost of the local communities and disguised as … Read more