Achieving Abundance: Understanding the Cost of a Sustainable Water Future (2020)

This Working Paper proposes a method whereby any decision-maker can calculate the cost required to deliver sustainable water management to a geography.

Primary Functions

  • Improve the effectiveness of financing for sustainable water management with a method that can help decision-makers calculate the cost required to deliver sustainable water management to a geography.
  • Access an Estimated Cost data set that estimates the costs of delivering sustainable water management for all countries and major basins.

Detailed Description

Population and economic growth, as well as climate change, have pushed water crises to the top of the global agenda. Given the scale of the issues, delivering sustainable water management requires rapid mobilization of funding for water-related improvements and more effective use of existing resources. The Achieving Abundance Working Paper proposes a method whereby any decision-maker can calculate the cost required to deliver sustainable water management to a geography.

The working paper calculates the cost of action required to close the gap between current conditions and desired conditions to financially compare and prioritize different water-related challenges or different targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6. The paper also estimates the costs of delivering sustainable water management for all countries and major basins—estimated globally as US$1.04 trillion (2015$) annually from 2015 to 2030.

Highlights

  • Population and economic growth, as well as climate change, have pushed water crises to the top of the global agenda.
  • Given the scale of the issues, delivering sustainable water management requires rapid mobilization of funding for water-related improvements and more effective use of existing resources.
  • This Working Paper proposes a method whereby any decision-maker can calculate the cost required to deliver sustainable water management to a geography.
  • The Proposed Approach calculates the cost of action required to close the gap between current conditions and desired conditions to financially compare and prioritize different water-related challenges or different targets of Sustainable Development Goal 6.
  • The paper also estimates the costs of delivering sustainable water management for all countries and major basins—estimated globally as US$1.04 trillion (2015$) annually from 2015 to 2030.
  • The Proposed Approach and Estimated Cost data set were designed for private sector applications, but a variety of decision-makers will find value in these tools to improve the effectiveness of financing for sustainable water management.
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Topics & SDGs

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WWF Mitigation

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