Learning the Lessons from Chile’s Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project

This policy brief by the Center for International Environmental Law uses the Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project in Chile as a case study to argue for the inclusion of social safeguards, stakeholder consultation, and independent redress mechanisms in the Article 6 mechanisms of the Paris Agreement.

• The Alto Maipo Project is a large-scale run-of-the-river hydroelectric facility located in the Cajón del Maipo, approximately 50 kilometers southeast of Santiago, Chile. The project involves rerouting three main tributaries of the Maipo River through 100 kilometers of tunnels in the Andes Mountains to generate electricity using underground turbines.
• Despite being verified under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Alto Maipo Project is alleged to violate multiple human and environmental rights. These include threatening the drinking water for 7 million people in the Santiago metropolitan area by potentially reducing river flows by 60-90%, and jeopardizing the right to food by threatening irrigation for over 120,000 hectares of farmland.
• The project is linked to severe environmental degradation and social harm, including the exacerbation of a decade-long mega-drought, the fissuring of glaciers, and the devastation of local tourism-based economies in the Cajón del Maipo. Additionally, the construction of a forebay has severely impacted the town of El Alfalfal, and workers have reported insufficient safety measures leading to injuries and one death.
• The document recommends that the Alto Maipo Project be removed from the CDM verified list, its construction be halted, and redress be provided for harms. It further urges that the Article 6 mechanisms of the Paris Agreement be governed by robust social and environmental safeguards, effective stakeholder consultations, and independent grievance mechanisms to avoid the mistakes of the Kyoto Protocol.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (n.d.). Learning the Lessons from Chile’s Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/One-Pager-on-AM-for-COP25_with-R2P.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Learning the Lessons from Chile’s Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project. n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/One-Pager-on-AM-for-COP25_with-R2P.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Learning the Lessons from Chile’s Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/One-Pager-on-AM-for-COP25_with-R2P.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallawndlearning, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Learning the Lessons from Chile’s Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/One-Pager-on-AM-for-COP25_with-R2P.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }