PAPER | FINANCING WATER RESILIENCE
Aqua Publica Europea has released a new paper on Financing Water Resilience with concrete proposals to tackle the growing investment gap in water resource management.
Today, 6 October 2025, Aqua Publica Europea releases Financing Water Resilience: a set of concrete proposals to tackle the growing investment gap in water resource management.
As the European Commission identified finance and investment as a key enabling area in its recently adopted European Water Resilience Strategy, and while the European Investment Bank is preparing its new Water Resilience Programme, our paper outlines six measures to mobilise greater financial resources for water investments, while ensuring the “3 Es”: Economic Efficiency, Social Equity, and Environmental Sustainability, in line with the framework of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water.
The measures presented build on Aqua Publica Europea’s internal reflections, the outcomes of the seminar we organised with MEP Stine Bosse at the European Parliament in April 2025, and exchanges with international experts, some of whose contributions are included in this paper.
DOWNLOAD THE PAPER HERE OR BY CLICKING ON THE COVER.
Our proposals:
- Moving towards a more calibrated tariffing system
- Extending the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme
- Complementing the ‘Polluter-Pays Principle’ with the ‘Beneficiary-Pays Principle’
- Blending traditional and innovative financing tools to support investments addressing the broken water cycle
- Strengthening the role of public banks
- Promoting a water-based solidarity as a condition for European cohesion
