Executive Summary : 2030 Water Resource Group's Annual Report 2024

Overview & Synopsis

Water is essential to building a livable planet and is central to the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals. This critical resource is under unprecedented threat. Water crises are becoming more severe, and increasing costs are being imposed on governments, people, and businesses as a result of droughts and floods, failing water systems, and a degrading water ecosystem that threatens our health and biodiversity. Governments and the private sector face critical choices and need to act wisely and collaboratively to develop and implement responses that are appropriate to the magnitude of the challenge. Without collaboration, we will fail to address the complex challenges that lie ahead. No business can afford to ignore water-related risks. Working with the 2030 Water Resources Group (WRG), companies can reduce their direct operational and supply chain risks, and market risks. WRG partnerships enable business leaders to work with government decision-makers to shape water strategies and address bottlenecks in policies and regulations. Currently, close to 350 companies are engaged in WRG’s transformative initiatives to mitigate these risks while creating a water-secure world in which people can thrive. WRG has three focus areas: Water for Food (supporting climate-smart irrigation and food production); Water for Planet (scaling wastewater treatment and reuse); and Water for Cities (creating water-secure city-regional systems). In FY24 it had active, impact-focused initiatives in Bangladesh, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa. WRG works closely with the World Bank, leveraging public sector finance and private sector innovations. For example, preparations for the first public-private partnership (PPP) for a municipal wastewater treatment plant in Bangladesh were completed in FY24, while in Uttar Pradesh in India, the private sector is working alongside the public sector in an initiative aimed at increasing water-use efficiency through a streamlined, digital delivery model for micro irrigation.