The Hydropower Sustainability Standard was launched in September 2021 by the Hydropower Sustainability Council.
Key steps and timeline
First public consultation
The first round of public consultation on the Hydropower Sustainability Standard took place between 12 November 2020 and 8 February 2021. The comments have been shared with the Hydropower Sustainability Governance Committee and the Standard Working Group, and were incorporated into the design of the Standard documents for the second consultation.
The following documents were shared as part of the first public consultation: Consultation paper, Information note and Terms of Reference.
A summary of all comments received from the first consultation and how they were addressed is available for download.
Second public consultation
A second round of public consultation on the Hydropower Sustainability Standard took place from 1 July - 2 August 2021. Feedback was requested on the following documents:
HS Standard, which presents key elements of the Certification Scheme, namely the Theory of Change, the hydropower performance requirements, the scoring methodology and the hydropower sustainability certification levels.
HS Assurance System, which defines all process aspects of the Certification Scheme, including steps towards obtaining certification, assessor accreditation, hydropower assessment processes, claims, renewal, appeals, and other governance processes.
Performance requirements were not under consultation as they are based on the Hydropower Sustainability Tools.
A summary of all comments received from the second consultation and how they were addressed is available for download.
Following approval from the Hydropower Sustainability Governance Committee, the Standard was launched at the World Hydropower Congress on 8 September 2021.
Standard Working Group
