Roundtable on Financing Water Publications

Report: Financing a Water Secure Future

This report presents a summary of the key challenges and opportunities related to financing that contributes to water security and sustainable growth distilling insights from the Roundtable on Financing Water and related analyses. It covers a broad range of water-related investments, including water and sanitation services, water resources management, agricultural water and managing water-related risks (“too much”, “too little” and “too polluted”). It summarises findings from analysis of investments needs and financing capacities, trends in development finance for water and explores how water risks generate financial impacts for corporates. The report highlights options to address the financing challenge by strengthening the enabling environment for investment, making the best use of existing sources of finance, strategic investment planning and mobilising additional finance via a range of financing approaches. Finally, the report sets out a vision for future OECD work on financing water and for the Roundtable on Financing Water.

Working paper: The role of intermediaries to facilitate water-related investment

This paper identifies and analyses a sample of 52 diverse intermediaries active in deploying one or more key functions across the investment value chain for 3 specific sub-sectors: utilities, small scale water and sanitation service providers and nature-based solutions. The analysis assesses the extent to which the activities of these intermediaries is aligned with the critical functions needed to mobilise finance across the sub-sectors. It identifies gaps, reduncies and misalignments and calls for a shift from the current opportunistic approach to a more strategic approach in the design and activities of intermediaries, supported by governments and financial institutions.

 Brochure: Financing a Water Secure Future

Working paper: Financing water security for sustainable growth in Asia and the Pacific 

The Asia Water Development Outlook – a flagship publication by the Asian Development Bank - monitors progress in water security in the Asia Pacific region. For the first time, the 2020 edition documents financing flows that contribute to – or that are needed to enhance – water security in the region.

Working in close collaboration with the Asian Development Bank and partners, the OECD endeavoured to characterise funding needs and financing flows for water security in the region. The approach and methodology derive from a similar endeavour covering the European region, but were adjusted to reflect the distinctive features of the region, in terms of the state of play, policy, and data availability.

Working paper: Addressing the social consequences of tariffs for water supply and sanitation

Where they exist, tariffs for water supply and sanitation services face a tension between different policy objectives, such as ensuring the financial sustainability of service provision and ensuring access to all, including vulnerable and poor social groups. Governments (local and national) resort to a range of measures to reconcile these objectives and address social consequences of tariffs: tariff levels and structures, nudging, budgetary transfers, targeted social measures. The paper revisits most common practices and discusses their pros and cons, and requisites to make them work. It provides up-to-date analyses on a series of related issues, such as definitions of affordability, principle for cost recovery, benefits and costs of metering, elasticity of domestic water use to prices, fiscal transfers to water services. The paper is informed by recent academic research, data on selected countries, and interactions with OECD bodies.

Background paper: Strategic Investment Pathways: The Zambezi Basin case study

This case study provides a diagnosis of key barriers and opportunities to strengthen the enabling environment for investments that contribute to water security and sustainable growth in the Zambezi Basin. The paper makes the case that a pipeline of bankable projects should be situated within a strategic investment pathway, which takes a long-term approach in order to ensure that investments deliver benefits for the environment, the economy and society over the long-term.

Report: Financing Water Supply, Sanitation and Flood Protection- Challenges in EU Member States and Policy Options

The OECD and the Directorate-General for Environment, the European Commission department responsible for EU policy on the environment, joined forces to examine current and future water-related financing challenges faced by EU member states. These include investments needed to comply with EU regulation for water supply, wastewater collection and treatment, and flood protection. Lessons from Europe outlined in this report can inspire similar research and policy discussions in other parts of the world.

Report: Making Blended Finance Work for Water and Sanitation- Unlocking Commercial Finance for SDG 6

Blended finance can play an important role to strategically deploy development finance to crowd in commercial capital. This publication examines: what has worked so far in terms of experience with blended finance for water-related investments; and the potential to scale up blended finance approaches to apply to a broader range of investment types and contexts. 

Read the Policy Highlights (PDF)

Policy Highlights: Financing Water - Investing in Sustainable Growth

This 2018 Policy Perspectives summarises key messages about the economic case for water investment, the barriers to investment and the financing gap. It charts a course for action to better value water and to facilitate water investment at scale.