Climate change action

We provide water services people can rely on. We work with communities to design practical, affordable and long-lasting ways to ensure they can get clean water, all year round, not just for drinking, but for cooking, cleaning, washing and making a living. And as it falls to women and girls to take on household chores and care for their families, it is integral that we listen to their first-hand experiences to inform these solutions. We’ve been doing this for 40 years, so we know exactly what it takes.

That means drilling boreholes to get to groundwater, which is more reliable and less vulnerable to changes in climate. Storing rainwater in rooftop tanks or ponds for times of drought. Or tapping mountain springs to provide a steady supply of clean water. 

It also means raising waterpoints and toilets so they withstand floods and don’t contaminate water. Introducing clever reverse osmosis technology that filters dirty water. Or helping communities monitor water levels so they can prepare for shortages. 

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirmed in their 2022 report that some elements of climate change are now irreversible. As Ali says, there is still a huge task at hand, and it is more important than ever that we scale up climate adaptation to protect the people who are worst hit, especially women and girls. 

We share our knowledge with governments and the private sector to change even more lives. We work with governments to make sure access to clean water is at the heart of their climate adaptation and development plans. But nowhere near enough government money is invested in helping people most vulnerable to climate change. Our research shows that in some of the poorest countries in the world, as little as $0.20 per person is spent each year on making water services climate resilient.

World leaders had an opportunity at COP27 last November, the world's largest decision-making forum on climate change, to support the most climate-vulnerable groups through finance, innovation and the inclusion of women and girls. 

As a matter of urgency, we called on world leaders to: 

• Honour the commitments they made at COP26 to at least double their financial support to developing countries. 
• Prioritise clean water for the world’s most climate-vulnerable people – particularly women and girls. 
• Address the structural inequalities — particularly for the most disadvantaged groups such as women and girls — that are being exacerbated by climate change. 

• Support holistic water, sanitation and hygienesystems to ensure sustainability and reliability.

• Recognise locally led projects as the most impactful and adopt this approach to build adaptation and resilience to climate change.