How the Hydropower Sustainability Standard is evolving and excelling in collaboration with leading sustainability initiatives

The Hydropower Sustainability Council has joined ISEAL as a Community Member and will have the opportunity to learn from other leading sustainability schemes worldwide.

ISEAL is a membership organisation that supports ambitious sustainability systems and their partners in tackling the world’s most pressing challenges.

As an ISEAL Community Member, the Council joins a growing number of initiatives working to demonstrate their commitment to driving positive change around the world.

The Hydropower Sustainability Council is the multistakeholder governing body of the Hydropower Sustainability Standard and Tools. Comprised of members from civil society and NGOs, governments, financial institutions, and industry, the Council is focused on upgrading the hydropower sector’s sustainability at a crucial time in the clean energy transition.

Dr Ashok Khosla, Chair of the Hydropower Sustainability Council says: “We are delighted to join such a diverse community of sustainability mechanisms – all sharing the common goal of driving positive social and environmental change in their respective sectors.

“ISEAL has been instrumental in providing guidance throughout the development of the Hydropower Sustainability Standard and I want to thank the Community Members and the board for recognising the importance of the Hydropower Sustainability Standard in tackling today’s most pressing sustainability challenges in the hydropower sector.

“The Council is committed to ISEAL’s Code of Good Practice and looks forward to achieving its objective of becoming Code Compliant.”

ISEAL Community Members who demonstrate adherence to its Codes of Good Practice through independent evaluation are labelled as ‘ISEAL Code Compliant’.

ISEAL Executive Director, Karin Kreider, comments, “I would like to congratulate the Hydropower Sustainability Council on becoming an ISEAL Community Member.

“Hydropower’s role in decarbonisation of electricity systems will be enhanced by working towards more sustainable hydropower projects and is key to supporting green energy.

“We’re excited to be expanding our membership in the infrastructure sector for this welcome addition to the ISEAL community.”

As the largest source of renewable energy in the world, hydropower will have a pivotal role to play in the clean energy transition. But, as with any large infrastructure project, hydropower can have significant environmental and social impacts if left unchecked and unregulated.

The Standard was developed to provide accountability within the industry and support developers to operate hydropower projects responsibly, in a way that benefits healthy ecosystems, local communities, and good governance in the sector.  

Built upon a set of robust and widely trusted sustainability tools and guidelines, the Standard now allows hydropower developers to earn international recognition for their environmental, social, and governance performance and unlocks access to green financing.

Through community membership of ISEAL, the Hydropower Sustainability Council hopes to continue improving the Standard, keeping up to date with the latest developments in sustainability accreditation and learning from its peers in the ISEAL community.

Find out more about the Hydropower Sustainability Standard.

Read more on ISEAL's website.

About ISEAL

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