In late August 2026, the mountains of central Nepal roared, and a geological time bomb finally detonated. Following the collapse of a glacier near the Tibetan border, a catastrophic wall of water, mud, and debris tore through the Bote Koshi and Trishuli river valleys. For the communities and workers caught …
Over the past decade, energy officials and climate activists have grown accustomed to celebrating the rapid decrease in solar and wind power generation costs. However, in 2025, it was energy storage, not renewable generation, that provided a cause for celebration. Hydropower now faces pressure from the development of other storage …
Over ten years of its existence, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has considered just ten hydropower projects for financing. Three were cancelled, seven received approvals. Only one was implemented without co-financiers — a refinancing of an already-built hydropower plant in Vietnam. This record speaks for itself: the bank is …
At the end of 2025, the Russian government and legislature undertook an unprecedented attempt to weaken key nature conservation laws. After two years of intense debate, the ‘Law on the Protection of Lake Baikal’ was amended by the Russian State Duma on 9 December 2025 and signed by the President …
The Rogun HPP construction project in Tajikistan, in its current form, involves the forced resettlement of up to 60,000 local residents from the inundation zone. These people must leave their homes and their land to start a new life from scratch. Proponents of the project insist that this is the …
A Critical Commentary on the “Global Horizon Scan of Emerging Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Hydropower” A recently published preprint, “Global Horizon Scan of Emerging Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Hydropower,” authored by Irene Boavida and 36 coauthors, offers a compelling look into the industry’s view of its own future. …
