Please tell the U.N. to eliminate dams and other
harmful offset projects from the Paris Agreement.

Please stop supporting harmful dams as a climate solution. The U.N. has registered more than 2,000 hydroelectric projects as carbon offsets. Hydro projects account for more than 20% of the potential emission reduction credits that are classified as “Article 6 eligible” – meaning, they can be used under Article 6 of the Paris agreement to achieve emission reduction targets.

Unfortunately, many of these emission reduction credits do not represent actual emission reductions. First, the U.N. is not accurately accounting for methane emissions before it approves hydroelectric projects as carbon offsets. At the same time, many of these projects are not “additional,” meaning they would have been built without the ability to sell carbon credits.

As you know, countries and companies can purchase these credits to satisfy or “offset” a portion of their emission reduction targets without directly reducing their own emissions. When credits do not represent actual emission reductions, they allow a net increase in global emissions.

Without corrective action on your part, Article 6 offset schemes will support construction of harmful new dams and validate old emission reduction credits from dam projects that are currently emitting methane.

As you implement climate mitigation goals of the Paris Agreement, please:
1. Exclude hydroelectric dams from all offset schemes including those in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and “net zero” pledges.
2. Require that member countries fully account for methane emissions from dams and reservoirs when calculating Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
3. Exclude from NDCs all hydroelectric dams that violate the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Why Aren’t Dams a Climate Solution?

Methane Emissions:
Dams and their reservoirs emit methane, a greenhouse gas 86 times more potent in the near term than carbon dioxide. As the latest IPCC report confirms, U.N. member countries cannot know if they achieve emission reduction targets until they account for methane emissions.

Rights of Indigenous Peoples:
Dams displace Indigenous communities, submerge ancestral territory, and eliminate healthy traditional food sources. Dams destroy ancient, sustainable, low-carbon, place-based cultures. Dam companies routinely do not seek free, prior and informed consent before flooding Indigenous communities. The dam building Industry has a history of murder, torture, and intimidation of Indigenous people.

Clean & Cost-effective Alternatives:
Solar and wind energy are cleaner, less expensive, and faster to build. The relative cost-effectiveness of solar and wind would be even more pronounced if the U.N. accounted for the externalized social, environmental, and intergenerational cost of dams.

Water Loss:
Dam reservoirs lose water to evaporation and underground seepage exacerbating water shortages and droughts. Some dams lose more water to evaporation than they deliver for water users.

Pollution and Water Quality:
Dam reservoirs exponentially increase the concentration of toxic algae which can poison humans and kill animals and fish. Dams elevate water temperature and reduce dissolved oxygen levels killing native fish.

Extinction & Ecosystems:
Dams cause species extinction and harm ecosystems by blocking access to spawning habitat upstream from dams, destroying downstream habitat, and supporting non-native species.

Carbon Sinks:
Dams limit the ability of rivers to carry carbon to the sea where it is absorbed and feeds plankton.

Unreliable Energy-Source:
Climate change has led to more frequent and severe draughts. Many countries that rely heavily on hydropower have suffered energy crises as their dams didn’t function efficiently due to low river flows.

Counterfeit Carbon Credits:
Under the Clean Development Mechanism, dam builders did not account for methane emissions or verify claims of "additionality." This resulted in “Certified Emission Reductions” (CERs) that do not represent actual emission reductions. Nonetheless, fossil fuel companies and other polluters can purchase these CERs to avoid making emission reductions.

Climate Adaptation:
Climate adaptation goals of the Paris Agreement would be better served by protecting free flowing rivers and the people who depend on them.

Free flowing rivers protect biodiversity, ecological resilience, and emotional resilience. Free flowing rivers provide food and sustainable economic livelihoods. Free flowing rivers sustain ancient place-based cultures which, unlike modern dominant cultures, provide for the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Please exclude hydroelectric dams from all carbon offset schemes, require U.N. member countries fully account for methane emissions from dams and reservoirs, and exclude from NDCs all new hydroelectric dams and existing dams that violate the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.