The International Hydropower Association’s ongoing work with its partners to improve knowledge and inform decision makers on the greenhouse gas (GHG) status of freshwater reservoirs is moving into a new phase.

A revised screening tool is being developed to estimate the impact of a reservoir on the GHG exchanges that occur in a river basin. The GHG Reservoir Screening Tool will allocate any GHG impact to the services provided by the reservoir. We expect that a prototype of the revised tool will be launched at the World Hydropower Congress in Beijing, 19–21 May 2015.

The development of the tool has been divided into four modules – pre-impoundment, post-impoundment, unrelated anthropogenic sources, and allocation to reservoir services. We have issued a request for proposals, which invites research teams to assist in the development of the first three of these modules.

The tool is intended to inform decision makers if there is likely to be any significant GHG footprint associated with the purposes for which the reservoir is being developed. The tool will be applicable for both existing and planned reservoirs. If the tool identifies a reservoir that is likely to cause a significant impact, the recommended action will include the possibility of detailed modelling.

Our work is aligned with that of the International Energy Agency’s Hydropower Agreement (IEA-Hydro), which is currently working on the development of modelling guidelines. These guidelines will relate to the detailed study of the GHG status of reservoirs shown to be vulnerable by the GHG Reservoir Screening Tool.

Back-to-back expert workshops to address both the development of the GHG Reservoir Screening Tool (convened by IHA) and modelling guidelines (convened by IEA-Hydro), will take place in London, 1–5 December 2014.

Please note that the deadline for proposals has now closed. For more details about the ongoing project, please contact the IHA Central Office.