KUCHING: Hydropower must deliver more than electricity, with international experts at the ‘Sustainability & Renewable Energy Forum’ (SAREF) 4.0 urging projects to cut emissions, adapt to climate change, and share benefits with communities through the Hydropower Sustainability Standard (HSS).
The panel session, ‘Sustainable Hydropower Development: Social Management and Benefit Sharing, Climate Adaptation and Mitigation’, highlighted the HSS as a benchmark that aligns with global safeguards while providing financiers, governments, civil society and industry with a common framework for responsible growth.
Hydropower Sustainability Alliance Senior Sustainability Specialist, Amina Kadyrzhanova, said the standard provides a benchmark for developers, financiers, governments and civil society.
She explained that it sets minimum requirements while pushing for continuous improvement.
“Standards are in every single sector because they help the sector understand and compare performance and also set the right benchmark, the right expectations, and we are that standard for the hydropower sector,” she said.
She highlighted climate mitigation and resilience as critical elements, requiring projects to cut emissions, support adaptation, and remain robust under different climate scenarios.
She said benefit-sharing with communities was also central, ensuring that hydropower improves livelihoods and creates long-term self-sufficiency.
Sarawak Energy’s Sustainability and ESG Lead, Darylynn Chung, described how Bakun Hydroelectric Plant was transformed into a model of responsible hydropower after its acquisition in 2017.
She said the project showed that sustainability must be embedded across the company rather than left to a single department.
“It wasn’t just about a certification; it’s about the responsibility to honour the past, act in the present, and prepare for the future,” she added.
“Sustainability cannot just live in one department. It must be embedded; it must be integrated.”
Chung said strong leadership, cross-functional teams, and robust capacity building were crucial.
Over 120 employees have been trained under the Certified User Training by the Alliance, supporting a shift from conventional asset management to responsible hydropower practices.
Chung added that reliable data was vital for transparency and improvement.
“Without this information, we can only build castles in the air. We will not be able to identify what are the real issues on the ground,” she stressed.
China Three Gorges’ Vice-President, Zhang Kaihong, said his company has drawn lessons from decades of large-scale projects in China to shape international operations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
He explained that sustainability is built into corporate governance structures and backed by executive committees that oversee ESG practices.
He gave an example from Brazil’s Amazon region, where invasive golden mussels threatened dam infrastructure.
“Some experts tried to use a chemical to poison that, but we refused. We used genetic technology to control the reproduction of the species. Now it is very successful,” he said, noting that such measures reflected efforts to work in harmony with ecosystems.
He also stressed benefit-sharing through local facilities and workforce development.
In Pakistan, more than 90 per cent of employees at a project site are local hires, and a training programme with Punjab University has already produced graduates who are working in the sector.
Global Director of Water and Wetlands at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), James Dalton, said frameworks such as the HSS and IFC Performance Standard 6 are helping to mainstream biodiversity safeguards in hydropower.
He said the focus should be on siting projects where impacts are already known, while using nature-based solutions to strengthen resilience.
“None of these frameworks are going to really solve all the problems, but what they are doing is improving the design, the integrity of interventions around hydropower,” he added.
He pointed to environmental flow management, sediment controls, and watershed protection as areas needing more attention to limit in-stream impacts.
Dalton added that civil society partnerships were critical.
“Working with civil society, with developers, with communities, there’s an opportunity there for better baseline, better monitoring, using different types of mechanisms to capture information and drive improvements,” he explained.
International Hydropower Association’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Pablo Valverde, said Southeast Asia’s growing demand for renewables created opportunities for hydropower, but also required governments and industry to prove sustainability.
“This is a region that’s going to need more and more renewable energy going forward. It’s also a region that’s going to need firm, reliable, sustainable energy, which is what hydropower can provide,” he added.
He said hydropower risked being overlooked in policy debates dominated by solar and wind, and stressed that demonstrating sustainable practices was vital for the sector’s credibility.
“The only acceptable hydropower is sustainable hydropower, and unless our industry takes that on board and really demonstrates that, it’s up to the question of doing it,” he added.
He stressed that certification under the HSS could make projects more attractive to financiers and investors by providing alignment with global safeguards.
Meanwhile, Chung said adopting the standard at Bakun shifted stakeholder engagement from reactive communication to structured, inclusive participation.
She pointed to the Bakun Community Management Steering Committee as an example of benefit-sharing and trust-building.
“This openness actually builds trust and reduces the potential of conflict. For us, consultation wasn’t just a requirement, it reflected our conviction that transparency is the foundation for transformation,” she said.
Zhang added that building local infrastructure, such as roads, clinics and water facilities, helped projects leave a lasting legacy for communities.
He also cited education partnerships in Pakistan as a way to strengthen skills and reduce poverty.
On policy, Valverde said ASEAN governments should incentivise leaders to continue advancing sustainability while encouraging lagging companies to raise standards.
He noted that in Indonesia, the government is already using the standard to prioritise projects.
“That sends a very strong signal, because if you’re going to get rid of these bottlenecks being recognised as national priority, it’s a very good way to get rid of some of these issues,” he said.
