Achieving the global goal on water, sanitation and hygiene - investor expectations

What is the role of institutional investors in supporting the Sustainable Development Goal on water, sanitation and hygiene? Our new report, produced in collaboration with Chronos Sustainability, sets out the three areas where investors can play a part. 

Today, more than 785 million people – 11% of the global population – do not have access to safe drinking water. Two billion people lack access to basic sanitation services and 3 billion lack basic handwashing facilities at home. Around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation.

Sustainable Development Goal 6 commits governments to achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all, and access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, by 2030. Goal 6 is ambitious, but it is achievable if the public, private and non-profit sectors work together to raise the investment needed, and ensure that investment is deployed effectively and sustainably.

This report sets out our views on the role that institutional investors can, and must, play in supporting goal 6. It points to three areas where investors have a particular role to play: helping to raise finance to provide water and sanitation to poor and vulnerable communities; encouraging companies to pay attention to water, sanitation and hygiene-related issues in their operations and in supply chains; and encouraging policy action on water, sanitation and hygiene issues.

This report has been produced in collaboration with Chronos Sustainability, which is committed to helping solve the world’s sustainability challenges and delivering transformative change in the social and environmental performance of key industry sectors. Find out more about their work.

Top image: Madina, 11, next to the newly constructed sanitary block at her school Mecanhelas District, Mozambique.