{"id":40459,"date":"2024-03-29T11:00:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T15:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=40459"},"modified":"2024-04-03T02:45:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T06:45:23","slug":"investing-in-the-future-of-water-and-sanitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/investing-in-the-future-of-water-and-sanitation\/","title":{"rendered":"Investing in the Future of Water and Sanitation"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to April 2024 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n
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Photo courtesy of WaterEquity\/water.org<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n

\"Elan<\/a>Access to safe water and sanitation is a fundamental human right under binding international law. Yet today, a global water crisis still persists. 2.2 billion people<\/a>\u2014or 1 in 4\u2014still lack access to safe water and\u00a03.5 billion people<\/a>\u2014or 2 in 5\u2014lack access to safely managed sanitation. While gains have been made over several decades, the effects of climate change have become a large and looming factor, halting progress made. Though the role of the public sector remains paramount in addressing the crisis, private impact investment has recently also emerged as a powerful tool.<\/p>\n

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Investing in Household Water and Sanitation Solutions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Impact investing focuses on generating positive social and environmental impact while seeking financial returns. In the realm of water and sanitation, investment plays a pivotal role in supporting innovative solutions, especially at the household level. Among low-income consumers, at least 600 million people could access water and sanitation products, services, and upgrades if financing was available, equating to what WaterEquity estimates as $35 billion of market demand over the next decade.<\/p>\n

WaterEquity has approached this market opportunity through an investment strategy focused on providing debt capital to financial institutions in emerging markets to expand water and sanitation lending. These financial institutions use this capital to grow their water and sanitation microloan portfolios, as well as to on-lend to local enterprises delivering water and sanitation innovations, products, and services. Since our start in 2016, WaterEquity has deployed more than $360 million in capital to this strategy across four private investment funds, reaching more than 5 million people with increased access to safe water and sanitation.<\/p>\n

Over 93 percent of the low-income end-clients taking out these microloans are women. This is no accident, as the funds have specifically targeted women beneficiaries by integrating gender into our investment and decision-making processes. And the microloans are repaid at the average rate of 97-99% within 12-24 months. Ensuring equitable access to safe water and sanitation cannot be accomplished without giving women the power and the capital to solve for their futures.<\/p>\n

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