Carbon credit for hydroelectric dams as a source of greenhouse-gas emissions: the example of Brazil’s Teles Pires Dam

Philip Fearnside

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2013, vol. 18, issue 5, 699 pages

Abstract: Carbon credit is granted to hydroelectric dams under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the assumptions that (1) the dams would not be built without CDM funding and (2) over the 7 to 10-year duration of the projects the dams would have minimal emissions as compared to the fossil fuel-generated electricity they displace. Both of these assumptions are false, especially in the case of tropical dams such as those planned in Amazonia. Brazil’s Teles Pires Dam, now under construction, provides a concrete example indicating the need for reform of CDM regulations by eliminating credit for hydroelectric dams. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2013

Keywords: Amazonia; Dams; Global warming; Greenhouse gas emissions; Hydroelectric dams; Methane; Mitigation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1007/s11027-012-9382-6

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