Ensuring sustainable hydropower development in the Nordic Region: balancing the promotion of renewable energy production and the “non-deterioration” principle.

Abstract

The world’s aquatic environment is at risk of irreversible environmental damage and most of Europe’s lakes and rivers have shown signs of degradation from pollution and the changing climate. Water sources are not only essential for human life but crucial for the earth’s biodiversity. The introduction of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in the EU has been essential in providing its member states with a tool to protect and improve their water bodies. Similarly, the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) has encouraged and increased the development of renewable energy across all sectors within the EU. Hydropower in this context presents itself as a solution and problem since its negative environmental impacts conflict with its renewable and sustainable nature of energy production. Because hydropower is an important source of renewable energy it is important to assess its ability to be produced while conserving the impacted water bodies. Currently, the urge for expanding hydropower generation in the EU has an increasingly negative impact on freshwater ecosystems. This thesis will explore why the regulation around hydropower production has become a conflicting environmental matter in the present day and how can it be resolved. There is a potential to ensure sustainable hydropower production within the EU and more specifically the Nordic region. However, this must be done by implementing adequate integration of the conflicting policies and dealing with the current uncertainty within the energy-water nexus. By achieving this, it is possible that the promotion of hydropower as a renewable electricity source would not only align with the targets set by the RED, but it will do so while respecting the objectives of the WFD.