IHA Sustainability Assessment Protocol

Download a PDF of the IHA Sustainability Assessment Protocol (SAP)

After more than two years of development and testing, the IHA Sustainability Assessment Protocol (SAP) has been approved by the IHA Board for adoption.
The approved version will be revealed during the IHA Business Summit in Portland on 1 August 2006.

The Sustainability Assessment Protocol has been developed primarily to assist IHA members in assessing performance against criteria described in the IHA Sustainability Guidelines. The Guidelines promote greater consideration of environment, social, and economic sustainability in the assessment of new energy supply options, new hydro projects and the management and operation of existing hydropower facilities. 

The IHA regards sustainability as a fundamental component of social responsibility, sound business practice and natural resource management. The document is in three sections.  The first (Section A – New Energy Projects) gives general guidance on sustainability issues that should be considered when assessing new energy supply options.  This section describes each of the 20 selected sustainability aspects and lists key considerations and assessment requirements for each aspect.  It can be used as part of a preliminary due diligence review of proposed new energy projects.  It should also be useful for policy and decision makers when developing energy policies and assessing future energy options requirements.

Assessments associated with the second section (Section B – New Hydro Projects) and third (Section C – Operating Hydropower Facilities) rely on objective evidence to support a sustainability score against each of twenty sustainability aspects.  These aspects of sustainability have been selected to give appropriate coverage to relevant economic, social, and environmental issues.  Assessment is scored from 0 to 5, and looks at both process and performance against each aspect or criteria. 

The Sustainability Assessment Protocol started life as a Compliance Protocol in early 2004. It has undergone extensive trialling and modification since then with a fifth version finalised this July.

Final trials were conducted on Eskom’s Gariep and Van der Kloof power stations in South Africa and Zesco’s Itezhi-tezhi and Lower Kafue Gorge projects in Zambia earlier this year.

Download a PDF of the IHA Sustainability Assessment Protocol (SAP)