Water and Wastewater Companies for Climate Mitigation

Carbon and greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change. Changes in our climate are changes in water, as these greenhouse gases are directly impacting the availability and quality of both source and receiving waters. The water industry is a prime victim in bearing the impacts of climate change, but it’s also a source of global carbon emissions from energy consumption, as well as process emissions from nitrous oxides and methane emissions in wastewater systems. The water sector can therefore contribute its share to meeting the internationally agreed target of below 2°C rise in global temperature.

The WaCCliM project works across local, national and international levels, and engages with national stakeholders around three pilot companies in Mexico, Peru and Thailand. The objective is to use GHG emission-reducing technologies to improve the carbon balance of water and wastewater companies while maintaining or even improving service levels and improving these companies cost effectiveness.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the International Water Association (IWA) are working together with their partners from Mexico, Peru and Thailand on the WaCCliM project. This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.