The Rivers for Climate Coalition
Advancing Climate Justice Through Free-Flowing Rivers
The Rivers for Climate Coalition is advancing a coordinated global effort to reposition rivers at the center of climate solutions, and correct a critical flaw in climate finance: the continued support of large hydropower. Through our UnDam campaign, we are working across policy, science, and grassroots movements to ensure that climate investments protect ecosystems, respect rights, and deliver real emissions reductions.
-
Large hydropower is still widely promoted as clean energy. But the science and lived experiences of millions tell a different story.
Hydroelectric development has:
Released significant greenhouse gas emissions, including methane
Decimated freshwater biodiversity and fragmented rivers globally
Threatened food and water security for millions
Driven deforestation and ecosystem collapse
Displaced communities and violated human rights
Become increasingly unreliable under climate-driven droughts and floods
Yet, the IEN has recommended doubling global hydropower capacity in order to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. With major policy decisions underway within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the next few years will determine whether rivers are protected or further exploited in the name of climate action.
We cannot afford to double down on a solution that undermines climate goals.
-
This is a decisive moment.
We are addressing a high-leverage gap in the global climate system:
Hydropower is still classified and financed as “clean energy”
Reservoir emissions (especially methane) are undercounted or excluded
River protection is largely absent from climate mitigation frameworks
This creates a critical misallocation of climate finance.
By shifting policy, narrative, and power, Rivers for Climate is working to unlock:
More accurate carbon accounting
Redirection of billions in climate finance
Scalable investment in river restoration and low-impact renewables
-
Healthy, free-flowing rivers are among the most effective, yet overlooked, climate solutions.
Restoring and protecting rivers can:
Sequester carbon and reduce emissions
Strengthen ecosystem resilience
Safeguard biodiversity
Improve water security
Support food systems and local economies
Dam removal and river restoration are scalable, science-backed climate strategies.
-
The Rivers for Climate Coalition is a growing network of partners working at the intersection of rivers, climate, and justice. Our mission is to safeguard the world’s rivers by advocating for international policies and financial mechanisms that prioritize ecological integrity, climate resilience, and community rights over the false solution of destructive hydropower.
We bring together:
Environmental and river advocacy organizations
Indigenous Nations and frontline communities
Scientists, researchers, and policy experts
Youth leaders and grassroots movements
The role of free-flowing rivers as a climate solution is still too often overlooked in the spaces where global decisions are made, and advocacy for their protection, maintenance, and restoration remains limited. Rivers for Climate was founded in 2021 to help address this gap through the Rivers for Climate Declaration. Building on that foundation, we are now entering a renewed phase of work to re-energize and expand our coalition with greater coordination and urgency to ensure rivers are meaningfully represented in climate policy at this decisive moment.
-
Get Involved
Sign our UnDam the UN Petition and our Klamath River Accord
Join the coalition as an assembly member
Partner with us
Support frontline leadership
Amplify the campaign
-
UnDam the UN!
Tell the United Nations: Dams = methane emissions,
displaced communities & extinction.
Dams ≠ Carbon offsets or climate solutions
The UN has already approved more than 2,000 hydroelectric projects as carbon offsets. This is unacceptable. Sign now to tell the UN and member nations: Dams don't belong in the Paris Agreement.
Our Strategy: High-Leverage Systems Change
The UnDam Campaign is a coordinated global effort to shift climate policy, finance, and public narrative away from destructive dams and toward real solutions.
We focus on three interconnected levers for global impact:
-
We engage directly with UN climate mechanisms, including Article 6 processes, to:
Remove hydropower from carbon markets and climate finance
Advance accurate GHG accounting for dams and reservoirs
Elevate river protection as a recognized climate solution
Submit evidence, policy briefs, and recommendations to UN climate bodies
Impact Potential: Shift international funding frameworks and national climate plans by redirecting funding away from harmful infrastructure and toward equitable, effective climate solutions.
-
We are reshaping the global narrative and correcting outdated assumptions about hydropower through:
Strategic communications and media
Scientific synthesis and dissemination
Documentary storytelling and media campaigns
Op-eds, press, and public education
Multilingual outreach and global movement building
Impact Potential: Influence decision-makers, funders, and multilateral institutions, and inform the general public.
-
We are strengthening a global coordinated river movement by:
Expanding the Rivers for Climate Coalition to synergize global actions
Supporting frontline Indigenous and youth leadership at global forums
Convening advocates around key policy moments
Building tools and networks for coordinated advocacy
Impact Potential: Durable, distributed pressure on decision-making systems, and frontline and Indigenous representation at decision-making spaces.
-
Hydropower expansion is accelerating, climate finance decisions are being made, and the world’s remaining intact rivers are at risk. But momentum is shifting.
From the Amazon to the Mekong to North America, communities are rising, science is bringing facts into focus, and solutions are within reach. The question is no longer whether change is possible, but whether we will act in time.
March 26th, 2026 | 8 am PST / 11 am EST / 4 pm CET
DESCRIPTION
The Arctic is warming faster than any region on Earth. While fossil fuels remain the primary driver of climate change, emerging research suggests that large hydroelectric dams surrounding the Arctic may also be disrupting critical climate-regulating systems.
This webinar explores how dams alter river flows, trap nutrients essential for marine ecosystems, generate methane emissions, and potentially contribute to thermal and ecological changes that influence polar ice melt.
Join researchers Cliff Krolick and Ali Bin Shahid for a deep dive into the little-known connections between hydropower, ocean productivity, and Arctic climate systems, including analysis of 17 major dams encircling the Arctic.
Contact: riversforclimate@gmail.com
SPEAKERS
Ali Bin Shahid
Ali Bin Shahid is an independent Climate and Ecosystem Repair Architect based in Islamabad, and founder of PSKL Water for All. His work identifies locations where tight coupling between hydrology, forest systems, and atmospheric dynamics creates propagation paths, then maps the intervention points where targeted restoration can trigger recovery cascades rather than collapse.
With a background in systems engineering (mechatronics and control systems), Ali transitioned to farming and permaculture in 2012 and has since developed applied restoration frameworks across Pakistan, Spain, Colombia, Jordan, and the Arctic. His current research focuses on the atmospheric consequences of large-scale hydrological disruption, including the boundary layer modification work presented today.
Cliff Krolick
Cliff Krolick is a US-based researcher and educator focused on the environmental impacts of large dams and river regulation in northern ecosystems. He has spent the past three years conducting research and delivering educational presentations for the North American Megadam Resistance Alliance (NAMRA) and is a founding member of the North American River and Dams Alliance (NARDA).
His work builds upon the research of the late Hans Neu, former head of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (1964–1984), as well as the investigative work of environmental researcher Stephen Kasprzak, author of Arctic Blue Deserts. Through his research and advocacy, Krolick examines how large-scale river regulation may influence marine ecosystems, ocean productivity, and global climate systems. He offers system wide thinking and perspective to ecological and climate issues.
