The U.S. Water Alliance’s new report, Water’s Net Zero Plus: A Call to Action for Climate Mitigation, details the U.S. water sector’s essential role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Science demonstrates that we have less than a decade to act on climate and secure global temperatures that maintain healthy, happy, thriving communities and ecosystems. For decades, the U.S. water sector has been at the forefront of billion-dollar climate-related disasters, from hurricanes to historic droughts, unprecedented freezes, and more.
The sector has adopted innovative strategies to address these impacts and continues to grapple with other challenges compounded by climate change. While adapting to the impacts of climate disasters, the water sector can also help contribute to local and national GHG reduction targets.
Water’s Net Zero Plus: A Call to Action for Climate Mitigation is the culmination of a six-month collaborative process in which a 40+ representative Imagination Team engaged in dialogues and strategic movement building around climate action, as part of the Alliance’s Recovering Stronger initiative. The Alliance partnered with five organizations — Black & Veatch, Empowering a Green Environment and Economy LLC, PolicyLink, Stantec, and Xylem — to establish the team, as well as to design and facilitate the process. The report is available online here.
“Climate stress is felt through water challenges: drought, fire, and flooding. But over 10 percent of global GHG emissions are water related,” explains Mami Hara, U.S. Water Alliance CEO. “That means water is also part of the climate solution. And opportunities to reduce emissions can support other One Water goals: improved water quality and security, operating resilience, flood protection, and water equity. I’m grateful to our partners who have invested their vision and insight into this process and the resulting paper. I’m inspired by the water sector’s ability to bring climate solutions to life.”
“The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a framework to increase sustainability across the globe. Inherent in each of the 17 SDGs is the significant impact of water, either directly or indirectly,” adds Cindy Wallis-Lage, Executive Director, Sustainability and Resilience, Black & Veatch. “We can sometimes overlook the indirect impacts, which is why I am so excited to work with the Imagination Challenge team to address the contribution the water industry can make in reducing emissions.”
