Water Infrastructure

 Water Infrastructure Criteria

Water-related investments account for an enormous part of the capital assets of developed countries, and are a huge part of investments being undertaken in developing economies. In 2008, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report showed the complex links between climate change and the distribution and supply of fresh water. Substantial infrastructure will be required to ensure clean and secure water supplies as the climate changes. A clear understanding of what sorts of investments are consistent with improving the climate resilience of water assets will help bond investors quickly determine the environmental credentials of water-related green bonds.

The Water Infrastructure Criteria lay out the requirements that water infrastructure assets and/or projects must meet to be eligible for inclusion in a Certified Climate Bond. The bond must also meet the reporting and transparency requirements of the overarching Climate Bonds Standard in order to receive Certification.

Climate Bonds Water Infrastructure Criteria have been developed in three phases. Phase 1 Criteria covers engineered water infrastructure and Phase 2 Criteria covers nature-based and hybrid water infrastructure for such purposes as water collection, storage, treatment and distribution, flood protection and drought resilience. The addition of Desalination Criteria marks the third phase of Criteria development. These three phases now form the whole Criteria and there is no division between the three.

 

Development of Water Infrastructure Criteria

The development of the Water Infrastructure Criteria has been led by the Water Consortium, which consists of the Climate Bonds Initiative, Ceres, World Resources Institute (WRI), CDP and the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA), which is supported by Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). To create the Criteria, the Water Consortium convened a Technical Working Group (TWG) and an Industry Working Group (IWG) with representatives from investors, public utilities, water NGOs and international policy bodies from around the world.

An additional Desalination TWG was convened to develop the desalination criteria added in phase 3 of Criteria development.

 

KR Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation have kindly supported this work.

 

 

Status: The Water Infrastructure Criteria is available for use in certifications. Get in contact with certification@climatebonds.net to start the certification process of your Water Infrastructure  green bond.

Financial instruments (bonds and loans) linked to these eligible assets, activities and entities will be aligned with the Paris Agreement and the goal of keeping global temperature rises to no more than 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels.

The new Water Infrastructure Criteria was launched on 22 May 2018. See the Media Release for more details. 

A Webinar ‘A Deeper Blue for Green Bonds: Water Investment Criteria for Nature-based Solutions’ was held on June 14 2018.

A webinar was held in November 2017 to launch the Phase 2 Public Consultation. The recording is below:

 

Water Infrastructure Criteria Technical Working Group Members

 

Lead Specialist

Alliance for Global Water Adaptation Dr. John Matthews Secretariat Coordinator

 

World Bank Group's Environment & Natural Resources Global Practice Valerie Hickey	California Organized Investment Network (COIN) Peter Streit Investment Officer	European Investment Bank Nancy Saich Senior Advisor on Climate Action & Environment	UNESCO-IHE Prof. Michael McClain Professor of Ecohydrology	World Business Council for Sustainable Development Tatiana Fedotova Manager, Water Cluster
University of North Carolina Dr. Larry Band Director, Institute for the Environment	Tetra Tech Dan Christian Senior Water Resource Engineer	Deltares Cees van de Guchte Scenarios & Policy Analysis	American Water Works Association Cynthia Lane Director of Engineering & Technical Services	IUCN Global Water Programme Dr. James Dalton Coordinator Global Water Initiatives
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UNEP-DHI Partnership Maija Bertule Programme Advisor	Alliance for Global Water Adaptation  Christine Chan	Ceres Monika Freyman Director, Water Program	World Resources Institute Todd Gartner Director, Natural Infrastructure Initiative	Stockholm International Water Institute John Joyce Chief Economist, Water Economics
UNEP Dr. Musonda Mumba Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EBA) Flagship Programme Coordinator	Water Innovator Will Sarni	Earth Security Group Margot Hill Clarvis ​Senior Manager	Organica Water Ari Raivetz CEO	Stockholm International Water Institute Torgny Holmgren Executive Director
Charles River Watershed Association Robert Zimmerman Executive Director	Bioatlatlantic Institute Marco Follador Director of Adaptation Planning	University of California, Division of Agriculture & Natural Resources Ted Grantham ​Cooperative Extension Specialist in Climate & Water	Denver Water Laurna Kaatz Climate Scientist	Complutense University of Madrid Dr. Elena Lopez-Gunn
2030 Water Resources Group (hosted by IFC) Rochi Khemka Regional Coordinator	Conservation International Dave Hole ​Senior Director, Global Synthesis	US Geological Survey Janet Cushing Deputy Chief, National Climate Change & Wildlife Science Center	Independent Consultant Benjamin Denjean	The Nature Conservancy Jorge Gastelumendi Senior Policy Advisor
Arup Jason Fairbairn Associate, Hydrogeologist and Water Resources	Global Environment Facility Christian Severin Senior Environmental Specialist	Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China Junguo Liu Professor	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Hair Senior Environmental Engineer	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Debbie Larson-Salvatore ​Institute for Water Resources
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charles B Chestnutt ​Institute for Water Resources	The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Aparna Sridar	RAMSAR Ania Grobicki	World Resource Institute (WRI) Betsy Otto	American Water Works Association (AWWA) Bill Stannard
University of Massachusetts, Hydrology Casey Brown	CDP Cate Lamb	Urban Water Research Group, Imperial College London Cedo Maksimovic	AMWA Erica Brown	Pegasys, South Africa Guy Pegram
Ceres Karen Yacos	Colorado State University, Stream Ecology Lab LeRoy Poff	Wiselion LLC Manisha Singh	Water Environment Federation Matt Ries	DC Water Melinda Massey
RAMSAR Rob Cadmus	European Investment Bank  Sebastian Hyzyk	Ceres Sharlene Leurig	European Investment Bank  Stefanie Lindenberg	Asia Development Bank Thomas Panella
OECD Xavier LeFlaive

 

Water Infrastructure Criteria Industry Working Group Members

Mike Brown, San Francisco Public Utilities Commission	Paul Fleming, Seattle Public Utilities
Cameron Ironside, International Hydropower Association	Piet Klop, PGGM
Hannah Leckie, OECD	Arturo Buenaventura Pouyfaucon, Abengoa Water S.A.
Jessica Robinson, Asria	Eric Schellekens, Arcadis
Manisha Singh, Wiselion LLC	Paul Wood, Water Fund LLC
Matthew Kuzma, Organica Water	Martin Geiger, DEG
Bob Morgan, Beaver Water District	Nicole Hardiman, Illinois River Watershed Partnership
Simon Petley	Roman Gomez, IFC
Gary Sharkey, PwC UK	Chris Webb, HERRERA
Adam Carpenter, American Water Works Association	Monica Reid, Kestral Consulting
	Anais Blasco, WBCSD

 

Desalination Criteria Technical Working Group Members

Water Desalination and Reuse Center, KAUST Paul Buijs  Center Liaison Officer	Renewables 100 Policy Institute Angelina Galiteva Founder and Board President	Pacific Institute Heather Cooley Director of Research	University of Utrecht Edward Jones PhD	International Energy Agency Molly Walton Energy Analyst

 

For industry input, special thanks go also to Tom Pankratz, independent consultant and the editor of Global Water Intelligence's weekly Water Desalination Report. 

 

Disclaimer: The Climate Bonds Standard Board operates legally as an advisory committee of the Climate Bonds Initiative Board and oversees the development of the Climate Bonds Standard. Neither the Climate Bonds Standard Board nor any organisation, individual or other person forming part of, or representing, the Climate Bonds Standard Board (together, "CBSB") accepts or owes any duty, liability or responsibility of any kind whatsoever to any issuer which wishes to apply for any of its bonds to be certified under the Climate Bonds Certification Scheme ("Scheme"), or to any issuer whose bonds may at any time be certified under the Scheme or to any other person or body whatsoever, whether with respect to the award or withdrawal of any certification under the Scheme or otherwise. All advice or recommendations with respect to any certification under the Scheme or otherwise that CBSB provides to the Climate Bonds Initiative Board is provided to it in an advisory capacity only and is not to be treated as provided or offered to any other person.

Financial instruments (bonds and loans) linked to these eligible assets, activities and entities will be aligned with the Paris Agreement and the goal of keeping global temperature rises to no more than 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels.