Social Innovation and Chinese Overseas Hydropower Dams: The Nexus of National Social Policy and Corporate Social Responsibility

The nexus between hydropower dams, social policy and corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a currently understudied topic. This paper aims to fill parts of this gap by discussing these issues in relation to the world's largest builder of hydropower dams, Chinese state-owned enterprise Sinohydro. This paper draws on the analysis of firm strategy documents and CSR documents and gains additional insights from key informant interviews. The research finds that in 2011 Sinohydro developed its first comprehensive policy framework for social and environmental safeguards that was in line with international standards set by the World Bank/International Finance Corporation. These policies were however later replaced by weaker, vaguer policy. The paper suggests there is a need for Sinohydro and other dam-builders to re-engage with social innovation to mitigate some of the negative social and environmental implications of hydropower dams

Chinese Overseas Hydropower Dams and Social Sustainability: The Bui Dam in Ghana and the Kamchay Dam in Cambodia.

There is a shortage of empirical studies on the relationship between Chinese hydropower dams and social sustainability. Comparative research on Chinese-funded and Chinese-built hydropower projects is rare. This article aims to fill parts of this gap by discussing these issues in relation to Chinese overseas hydropower dams in Ghana (Bui Dam) and Cambodia (Kamchay Dam). Both projects are built by Sinohydro and financed by ExIm Bank. This article draws on in-depths interviews and focus group discussions with local communities affected by the dams, institutional actors in Ghana and Cambodia, Chinese actors, and dam builders. The article uses an environmental justice perspective as an analytical framework. The article concludes that the dam projects could improve their social sustainability framework in practice and theory; social benchmarking should be introduced and social policies need to be improved to be in line with international social standards on hydropower projects

Sanmenxia multipurpose hydraulic project

Sanmenxia hydro-junction is the first sizable water conservation project constructed on the Yellow River’s main stream during the socialist revolution and construction period following the foundation of new China. Due to lacking understanding and experience with sediment-laden water rivers, after the project was constructed in 1960, it was reconstructed and/or modified twice. This paper presents the case study of the Sanmenxia project.</p