Bernt Rydgren
Bernt has a doctorate based on soil-erosion studies in Lesotho in Southern Africa, a Licentiate and a BSc degree in Physical Geography, as well as a BSc in Hydrology, all from Uppsala University, Sweden. He has 45 years of broad experience from environmental and water-resources work in over 60 countries worldwide, working at both practical and strategic levels.
ESIAs, sediment transport and hydrology/water resources-related topics are his specialties and applications have focussed on the power sector, specifically hydropower. Bernt worked for 15 years for Vattenfall, the largest power utility in Sweden, as an in-house consultant with assignments both within the organisation and consulting to other companies, developers, development banks etc. As part of his strategic environmental responsibilities for the hydropower section of the company, he was project manager for the world’s first ISO 14025-certified Environmental Product Declaration (hydropower electricity from Lule Älv, Sweden) in 1999. He was also Vice President for environmental affairs for Vattenfall’s Latin American investment company in 2000-2001 and has lived and worked in Lesotho, Tanzania and the USA for a combined 7 years. As a consultant, Bernt has carried out and/or reviewed socio-environmental and sustainability assessments in a wide variety of countries, and has also been the resident project manager for the Ruhudji Hydropower project in Tanzania in 2008-09.
Before the advent of the Hydropower Sustainability Standard, Bernt was involved in 19 of the assessments against the HSS’s predecessors the HSAP and the HESG, including as Lead Assessor for 11 of these. He has participated in 8 assessments against the HSS, all as Lead Assessor. The assessments have taken place in 18 different countries across 6 continents.
Bernt works for Sweco in Sweden.
Location: Linkoping, Sweden
Email: bernt.rydgren@sweco.se
Assessed projects
