The Sustainable Development of Hydropower Initiative seeks to share expertise, best practices, and methodologies related to the sustainability and financing of hydropower, as well as motivate multilateral developing and financing agencies to consider sustainable hydropower in their portfolios of possible energy solutions for developing countries. The group's first action will be to inventory a river basin in a developing country—probably in Africa—for potential hydropower resources. Partners in the initiative will also work to identify potential financial resources from multilateral organizations for future sustainable hydropower development.
For more information, view the Sustainable Development of Hydropower fact sheet.
The initiative released the "Manual for Hydropower Inventory of River Basins" in English at the November 2010 Sustainable Hydropower Conference, held in Rio de Janeiro in coordination with the International Energy Agency. This new methodology seeks to balance energy production and social and environmental considerations from the very first stage of the planning procedure.