Mohammed Irwan Aman
Dr Pablo Cardinale
Rodolfo Azanza
KUCHING: Incorporating sustainability into hydropower business practices and throughout the value chain is a complex and demanding process.
However, companies can benefit much by incorporating international industry standards such as the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP) into their business practices, SN Aboitiz’s CSR/CDM and business development manager Rodolfo Azanza told delegates at the International Hydropower Association (IHA) World Congress here yesterday.
He shared about how his company had used the protocol’s framework to good effect during its takeover of the Binga hydroelectric power plant to assess the situation and identify areas for improvement.
This included technical upgrading of the plant, improving health and safety by cleaning up and removing hazardous substances, creating 150 jobs and a CSR fund for the local community, reforesting affected areas with fruit-bearing trees, and convincing the Philippine government to return surrounding lands not required by the power plant or the authorities back to the local people for self-administration.
Rodolfo saw much potential for the protocol to be utilised across a wide range of uses by the private and government sector, such as a reference for constructing and operating complex hydro projects, as an assessment tool for building bids or financial models for acquisitions; and as a government’s condition for granting hydro-development licences.
However, there are at least four common challenges which need to be continually addressed in order to make sustainability work, cautioned International Finance Corporation senior environmental specialist Dr Pablo Cardinale.
He pinpointed open and constant communication between the engineers, environmentalists, academics, activists and affected communities as the first challenge.
“Constant communication and understanding through the assessment process is essential, but it’s not always there. Communities have accused companies of not being transparent, but it’s not because they are not being transparent but it’s because people doing the engagement don’t really understand how it works or how it’s going to impact them.”
The second challenge involved shifting paradigms about hydropower sustainability because traditionally the impact and environment assessment process used to be focused on the project, instead of taking into account other criteria such as the management of watershed areas, he said.
He identified the process of obtaining free, prior and informed consent from indigenous people and affected communities as the third challenge.
The fourth challenge was cross cutting, which required continuous, meaningful and good-faith engagement and negotiation with stakeholders, as well as learning from mistakes.
Rodolfo and Dr Pablo were among speakers during yesterday morning’s plenary session ‘Incorporating Sustainability into Business Practices’.
Also in the panel was Sarawak Energy Berhad sustainability manager Mohammed Irwan Aman who shared about the company’s efforts over the past one and half years to incorporate sustainability into its business processes.
He said the company was still in the beginning stages but were committed to seeing it through.
Yesterday was the last day of the congress.