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The Promotion of Dams Through the Clean Development Mechanism: Between Sustainable Climate Protection and Carbon Colonialism

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Large Dams in Asia

Part of the book series: Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research ((AAHER))

Abstract

The current discussion about global warming and the possibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through hydropower has given a new turn to the debate about dams, resulting in the re-evaluation of this otherwise disputed technology. This trend materialises in the massive financial support that the United Nations’ carbon-offsetting scheme Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) mobilises for the construction of new hydropower plants in developing countries. As defined in the Kyoto Protocol, CDM projects are supposed to avoid greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously contributing to sustainable development. The objective of this chapter is to analyse to what extent carbon-offsetting dams are able to live up to this ‘win-win’ expectation. By identifying considerable challenges and constraints, it is argued that the capability of large hydropower projects to contribute to climate protection and to sustainable development is questionable. Given the controversial effects large dams may have on the local level, it is discussed in which respect carbon-offsetting dams constitute a form of ‘carbon colonialism’ that results in the exacerbation of one of the most problematic aspects of global warming: the asymmetries of causation and burden-sharing.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The three ‘flexible mechanisms’ of the Kyoto Protocol are Emissions Trading (ET), Joint Implementation (JI) and Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

  2. 2.

    The Kyoto Protocol regulates six types of GHG or groups of gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide (N2O), sulphur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) (UNFCCC 1998).

  3. 3.

    The CDM pipeline comprises all approved and applying projects (UNEP Risø Centre 2010).

  4. 4.

    The polluter pays principle is constitutive for many environmental laws. It stipulates that the costs of pollution and related mitigation efforts have to be borne by the polluter (Bugge 1996).

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Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Cluster of Excellence ‘Asia and Europe in a Global Context: Shifting Asymmetries of Cultural Flows’ at the University of Heidelberg. The author would also like to thank the members of the Geography Department at the South Asia Institute of Heidelberg University as well as one anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments which significantly improved this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 330, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Alexander Erlewein Dipl.-Geogr.

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  1. Alexander Erlewein Dipl.-Geogr.
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Correspondence to Alexander Erlewein Dipl.-Geogr. .

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  1. Department of Geography, Heidelberg University, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg, Germany

    Marcus Nüsser

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Erlewein, A. (2014). The Promotion of Dams Through the Clean Development Mechanism: Between Sustainable Climate Protection and Carbon Colonialism. In: Nüsser, M. (eds) Large Dams in Asia. Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2798-4_8

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