The EIB at World Water Week 2021

Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) cities face water resource management and service provision challenges due to increasing population and climate change. Extreme weather events and other climate change related incidents affect utilities’ capacity to deliver services. This session will bring in solutions to ensure resilience, efficiency, and reliability in the service provision.

This interactive discussion will cover solutions related to efficient management of infrastructure for service provision, such as the digitisation of operational and administrative processes, as well as innovation in processes and more agile adoption of new technologies. In addition, the session will focus on the financing of these solutions and the expansion of infrastructure to reduce the gaps in access and quality of services.

Our water expert Juan Bofill delivered a keynote intervention on sustainable finance and financing framework.

A Water Coalition launched by the AFD, CAF, the EIB and the WB together with SWA, has the aim, along with domestic development banks, to improve financing to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, the Paris agreement goals and biodiversity protection by sharing knowledge, lessons learned and ways to increase co-financing.

As a follow-up, the session will share experiences, best practices, tools and instruments developed by Public Development Banks to accelerate financing in the Water Sector, as well as the enabling environment needed to mobilise innovative sources of financing, such as blended finance, climate funds or green/blue impact bonds, in accordance with the SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework that comprises optimised financing, capacity development, innovation and governance.

Paloma Pérez de Vega, EIB Head of Division-Project Finance Global Partners, delivered the closing remarks of the session.