Sustainable water management has a significant role to play and the message for our sector is clear: we need to pick up the pace.
As climate change intensifies, the world’s water utilities face a dual challenge: adapt to climate change and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
Water is a conduit for the most pronounced effects of global warming and an energy-intensive activity that requires mitigation. Research by Global Water Intelligence estimates that the water industry represents 1.8% of global carbon emissions and 4.7% of global methane emissions.
As we move on from COP28 in Dubai last December, we must heed the call for urgent action. To stay within reach of the 1.5°C temperature goal set out in the Paris Agreement, emissions need to be cut by at least 42% by 2030 compared to current policy scenarios1.
Sustainable water management has a significant role to play and the message for our sector is clear: we need to pick up the pace.
Many utilities are leading the way. To find out how, we spoke to several innovative utilities across the globe, from Europe to Australasia and South America, to share their insights in a new paper.
Their experience shows that the solutions needed to adapt and mitigate are not mutually exclusive and many of the technologies needed already exist. Through innovative approaches and collective action, water utilities can heavily reduce greenhouse gas emissions gap and scale climate adaptation efforts, all while demonstrating to their customers that they are taking a leadership role in helping to address climate change and improve the overall resiliency of their community.
Forging a Sustainable Path
For example, one utility we spoke to is taking a three-step approach to phasing out fossil fuels:
- First, improve energy efficiencies in operations.
- Second, seek opportunities to generate onsite renewable energy.
- Third, switch to renewable energy providers.
Other utilities described how they are targeting the "low-hanging fruit" in the race to net zero and combining these three steps to move to net energy neutrality.
The work doesn’t stop there. Several utilities pointed to the need to think twice before building anything new. They are focused on “whole-of-life” carbon – the carbon associated with every stage of an asset’s lifecycle – to inform the cost-benefit analysis of new infrastructure and accurately gauge sustainability impacts.
Some utilities shared their progress in tackling process emissions – long seen as one of the most intractable issues in managing water. Their stories show improvements in the measurement of nitrous oxide and fugitive methane emissions, enabling water managers to mitigate these emissions through process optimization and carbon harvesting.
While every utility has a unique set of challenges, and each must run its own race to net zero, collaboration and knowledge-sharing will help us fast-track progress.
Collaborate to Accelerate
From tackling wastewater process emissions to managing the water-energy nexus with renewable power sources and circularity, water utilities are already rising to the challenge of climate action. And while every utility has a unique set of challenges, and each must run its own race to net zero, collaboration and knowledge-sharing will help us fast-track progress.
Net zero can be a springboard to transform the resiliency and sustainability of water utilities and the communities they serve. Working together, we can realize that opportunity.