Sustainable hydropower |
communities and customers. Promoting gender equality was not only good for women and men within the hydropower sector, but good for business with many companies witnessing an improvement in their reputation, with a more productive and friendlier workplace environment. Ultimately, the programme had positive impacts on the wider industry and increased awareness of the link between gender and good ESG practices.
Sustainable finance Fair Finance Asia (FFA), in collaboration with
Above: Only a small number of women enter the STEM field in Nepal, but they have been encouraged to seize the opportunity and become central to the country’s hydropower development © gorkhe1980 /
Shutterstock.com
research partner, Profundo, launched a new report called “Enhancing Sustainable Finance in Mekong Hydropower: Challenges, Opportunities, and Ways Forward.” Developed in consultation with national coalitions in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Thailand, it aims to serve as a key source of information and recommendations for groups urging for sustainable Mekong region hydropower financing, and for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to strengthen frameworks supportive of Asia’s just energy transition. To ensure that hydropower financing upholds the rights of Mekong River communities and the environment, the report makes various recommendations for financial institutions. These include:
References
Powered by Women. Driving Sustainability And Innovation Through Gender Diversity In Nepal’s Hydropower Sector. September 2023. International Finance Corporation in partnership with Australian Aid and the Norwegian Ministry of foreign Affairs.
https://www.ifc.org/en/ insights-reports/2023/driving- sustainability-through-gender- diversity-nepal-hydropower
fairfinanceasia.org/wp- content/uploads/2024/05/ Report_FFA-2024_Enhancing- Sustainable-Finance-in- Mekong-Hydropower- Challenges-Opportunities- and-Ways-Forward_Final.pdf
https://www.bv.com/ resources/2024-water-report
Developing and disclosing an overarching human rights policy and due diligence process aligned with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Applying an intersectional perspective that considers the specific risks faced by women and other minority groups, such as Indigenous Peoples. Developing and disclosing a sector policy for the hydropower sector. Developing measures that enable effective remedy for affected stakeholders. Aligning hydropower financing and investments with green technical screening criteria of national and/or regional taxonomies. Recommendations for ASEAN and national policymakers include that central banks and financial regulatory authorities:
Make more active use of existing tools and guidelines developed at the regional level. Consider changing their approach to large-scale hydropower based on a more nuanced assessment of their cumulative transboundary and basin-level impacts. Require the banking sector to include ESG risks, including those related to hydropower, in their credit risk assessments. In addition policymakers were urged to prioritise studies investigating the cumulative impacts of hydropower dams and integrate their findings in national legislation, policy frameworks, and strategic planning processes related to hydropower development. Regulators should encourage commercial banks and asset managers to develop hydropower sector policies, while central banks and national governments should consider introducing incentives for banks and other financial institutions to increase their portfolio of green, social, and sustainability-linked financial instruments.
Hurdles to sustainability In their 2024 Water Report which surveyed over 630
US water industry stakeholders, Black and Veatch found that 60% of respondents said sustainability was a critical strategic focus, a slight drop from the previous two years. With sustainability programmes embracing a range of topics from conservation and resilience to better efficiencies and new technology, the report states that advancing sustainability often comes down to a matter of money – or a lack of it. As the drive towards more sustainable practices accelerates, challenges to achieving those goals remain. Seventy-six percent of respondents listed affordability as their biggest hurdle, followed by the availability of resources and capacity. Black and Veatch explains that while utilities are navigating a period of significant investments to address rapidly growing demand and ageing water infrastructure, the megatrend around sustainability creates both complexity and opportunity for them. Many are responsibly starting with a focus on managing existing assets and operations to maximise efficiency and sustainability.
Right: A new report has focused on sustainable financing for hydropower development in the Mekong
10 | July 2024 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
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