Building climate-resilient hydropower after Nepal floods

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes · Last updated: 8 October 2026

Eddie Rich, chief executive officer of the International Hydropower Association (IHA), says the late‑August floods in Nepal underline the need to build climate‑resilient hydropower. Initial reports indicated more than 900 workers were unaccounted for or trapped across 11 to 12 hydropower project sites, with around 570 initially reported missing at Upper Trishuli‑1, and initial sector estimates put direct damage at more than 600MW of generation capacity. As first reported by Enlit World, Rich argues that basin‑scale planning, improved monitoring and the Hydropower Sustainability Standard must be embedded from project selection through operation to protect people and assets in a changing cryosphere.

going forward, the only acceptable hydropower is sustainable hydropower

San José Declaration (World Hydropower Congress, 2021)

What occurred in Nepal and the immediate scale of the damage

Late‑August flash floods struck Nepal’s Trishuli and Bhotekoshi river basins and caused widespread human and infrastructure loss. Initial reports indicated more than 900 workers were unaccounted for or trapped across 11 to 12 hydropower project sites, with around 570 workers initially reported to be unaccounted for at the Upper Trishuli‑1 project. Specialist teams and Nepalese authorities worked under very difficult conditions; at the time of reporting two trapped workers had been rescued from a hydropower tunnel nine days after the disaster.

The floods affected operational plants and sites under construction, and initial sector estimates put direct damage at more than 600MW of generation capacity. Those figures show the immediate operational hit but, as Eddie Rich and others point out, they cannot fully capture the human tragedy and the secondary economic impacts on communities that depend on hydropower for livelihoods and electricity.

Why changes in the cryosphere and hydrology raise new risks for hydropower

Climate change is altering glaciers and precipitation patterns across the Hindu Kush Himalaya, and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has highlighted rising risks from glacier‑related hazards, changing precipitation, landslides and floods. Warmer temperatures contribute to glacier retreat and can increase instability; that can raise the frequency or magnitude of glacial lake outburst floods and landslides that reach downstream infrastructure.

Mountain environments have always carried natural hazards, but the context in which those hazards must be assessed is changing. For hydropower developers and planners this means historical hydrological records alone are insufficient; changing seasonal runoff, more intense precipitation events and evolving glacier behaviour require updated hazard assessments across whole river basins rather than project‑by‑project reviews.

Design and operational measures that build climate resilience into hydropower

Rich argues that climate risk should be considered from project inception and site selection through design, construction and operation. That includes basin‑scale risk assessments, investment in monitoring and forecasting systems, and early warning linked to emergency preparedness. Engineering designs and asset management should explicitly account for changing hydrology and extreme events so infrastructure can remain safe and operable.

Operational measures include updating dam and tunnel safety protocols, preparing evacuation and rescue plans for workers in underground works, and building redundant or flexible systems that protect downstream communities. Those measures connect directly to the idea that infrastructure should deliver electricity while also contributing to community safety and long‑term value rather than being optimised only for initial generation output.

Standards, commitments and industry practice

The Hydropower Sustainability Standard provides a globally applicable framework for assessing practice across hydropower development and operation and covers 12 sustainability topics, including climate resilience, environmental and social management, governance and community engagement. Eddie Rich and the IHA present that Standard as a way to embed resilience and sustainability into decision‑making and to demonstrate outcomes through independent assurance.

The IHA cites the San José Declaration, issued at the 2021 World Hydropower Congress, which states that going forward hydropower must be sustainable. That commitment shapes how developers, financiers and governments evaluate projects and sets expectations that resilience and social safeguards are integral, not optional.

How this could change project choice and practice

The bottom line

The Nepal floods are a human tragedy and a test case for how hydropower systems respond to a changing climate. Eddie Rich and the International Hydropower Association urge that climate risk be embedded at every project stage: basin‑scale assessments, upgraded engineering standards, continuous monitoring and early warning, and independent assurance via the Hydropower Sustainability Standard. If those elements are adopted more widely, hydropower can continue to deliver clean electricity and economic benefits while reducing the likelihood that a single extreme event will cause widespread social and operational collapse.

What to watch

• Follow Enlit Europe, 10–12 November 2026, for sessions on hydropower modernisation and resilience strategies presented by developers, utilities and investors.
• Watch for the International Hydropower Association's guidance and any updated sustainability tools; no firm publication date has been set.