Water is a necessary part of the climate solution: without considering freshwater in mitigation and adaptation, the Paris Agreement will likely be out of reach.
In September 2024, the COP Presidency announced an Action Agenda, including a COP29 Declaration on Water for Climate Action. This declaration calls on stakeholders to take integrated approaches to combat the causes and impacts of climate change on water basins and freshwater and related ecosystems, and to integrate water-related mitigation and adaptation measures in national climate policies, including NDCs and NAPs.
If approved, the Declaration will launch the Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action to enhance COP-to-COP continuity and coherence. The Water for Climate Pavilion and its partners strongly support the proposed Declaration and Dialogue and stand ready to support its approval during COP29 and mobilize non-State actors.
There are four suggested focus areas of engagement for the water and associated ecosystems for climate community:
Through prioritizing adaptive water planning and management, countries can build climate-resilient that benefit both people and the planet.
Water is central to the update of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs):
Parties will provide updates to their own Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) by February 2025 so COP29 is an important moment in making the case for water’s role in these key documents. Water’s role in adaptation is relevant to both NDCs and to NAPs – many of which will be newly-drafted, as only 57 are currently submitted.
Adaptation priorities to be considered can include:
Climate change is felt through water. Most natural disasters are weather-related: storms, floods, droughts. and people experience too much or too little water; water that is too dirty or in the wrong place.
The global climate crisis makes the management of water availability, quality, and access increasingly difficult, demanding adaptation strategies for this scarce and precious resource. Communities will not be able to adapt to climate change without careful consideration of water resources, sanitation and the ecosystems and economic structures that rely on them.
The UAE Framework for Global Climate Resilience is the outcome of the two-year Glasgow-Sharm el Sheik Work Program on the Global Goal on Adaptation and was launched at COP28. Water is a key sector prioritised by the Framework, but indicators are yet to be agreed. Water also contributes to many of the other targets.
The expertise of the water community can be harnessed to support the development of indicators for the Global Goal on Adaptation. The water sector has been refining and evolving its approach to monitoring progress for decades and has already contributed to the UNFCCC’s call for existing indicators and metrics that could be utilized or adapted by Parties. The corresponding submission is available under the following link.
Water action on adaptation is also being undertaken by non-state actors, for example under the Sharm el Sheikh Adaptation Agenda. Water and natural systems, one of five impact systems, had by 2024 attracted a broad range of commitments from FCCC parties, cities, the private sector, and other critical actors.
Water is fundamental to the net-zero transition. Many mitigation efforts are reliant on available water of sufficient quality, and GHG emissions from water management are able to be reduced significantly with current technology.
Climate mitigation measures depend on freshwater resources.
Energy production is – and will remain – highly water intensive. Climate mitigation measures for achieving net zero and implementing the Paris Agreement will consume substantial volumes of freshwater. At the same time, water is becoming more variable and less reliable in many regions of the world, with the result that hydropower production could become less predictable and even that hydropower infrastructure could become stranded.
Early estimates indicate that the amount of water needed to support the energy transition will be equivalent to about one-third of that used by irrigation globally. However, this is an emerging area of science, and water’s contribution to the energy transition therefore needs to be included in IPCC assessments.
The water sector is essential to meet our emission targets – with the potential to reduce more emissions than all of aviation and shipping combined. Opportunities for water-based climate-mitigation include increasing carbon storage and capture through improved protection and restoration and reducing methane emissions from wetlands and peatlands; reducing methane emissions from rice production through better utilization of water; reduced emissions from water supply and sanitation systems; and lowering emissions through improved water management and energy use in agriculture and energy production.
Water management accounts for at least 10% of global emissions, yet receives less than 2% of global climate finance. The technologies needed to abate these emissions are well-known but are not yet universally available. Emission reduction in the water sector can be rapidly accelerated with access to finance and capacity development.
Nature-based solutions can deliver multiple benefits for people and the environment, and water is essential for nature-based mitigation. Wetlands are currently the planet’s most effective carbon storage solution but only when sufficient water is retained and recharged in forests, peatlands and other natural ecosystems.
Water and climate are interdependent. Climate targets rely on effective water management but water systems also respond to climate change and variability; and a range of water interventions can make a direct contribution to lowering global GHG emissions. Joint water and climate management and governance need to be coordinated and strengthened to harness the potential of water and associated ecosystems in climate mitigation.
The GST Outcome statement, also known as the UAE Consensus, articulated the need to rapidly accelerate the green energy transition, peaking global emissions by 2025 and tripling renewable energy capacity by 2030. Because of water’s important role in many renewable energy production and storage methods, the water needs of renewables must be carefully considered to ensure these targets can be reached. Parties have the opportunity to improve the resilience of their energy systems through integrated management of the water-energy nexus.
Updated NDCs are due in 2025. The Water for Climate community urges parties to consider how management of water systems can contribute to updated NDCs, particularly through policies and programs on water supply and sanitation; nature; agriculture and energy.
New initiatives are emerging from the COP Presidency, such as UNDP’s Climate Promise 2025 which will provide capacity-building support to countries wishing to increase the ambition of their national climate pledge. Because NDCs are linked directly to finance, it is critical that water is a high priority for Climate Promise 2025 and other capacity building programs.
Companies, cities, regions, financial, educational, and healthcare institutions can also take effective action on mitigation through water. Many opportunities are in the hands of subnational and private sector actors, for example where they manage water treatment and supply, wetlands and natural ecosystems, and agri-food systems. The Climate Champions network is active at COP29 and continues to advocate on water and climate action and for coherence in action across multilateral environmental agreements.
The Water for Climate community welcomes the Presidency’s leadership on water through initiatives including the COP29 Declaration on Water for Climate Action and the Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action and notes the strong references to water security in supporting initiative such as the COP29 Baku Harmoniya Climate Initiative for Farmers.
More information about water’s role in mitigation can be found here
Water is a resilience multiplier. If climate finance, capacity development, technology and partnerships support water action, water can connect sectors and promote a systems view, reducing risk and increasing resilience.
Security analysis can refer to climate change is a “threat multiplier” because it touches every sector and introduces new complexity and scale to a range of threats. Water is a “resilience multiplier” because it underpins the ability of many systems to respond and adapt to climate change.
Given its universal nature, water can serve as a connector across sectors and between the global agendas, helping increase coherence between, for example, the SDGs, Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework, and Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Action on water and freshwater ecosystem protection, including through area-based measures, and restoration enables action across a range of other sectors.
Locally-led innovation is critical to tackling climate challenges in water, building inclusive systems by empowering local communities and under-represented groups. Local action allows opportunities for traditional and Indigenous knowledge to be effectively included in resilience planning, if governance systems have the necessary flexibility to support local decision-making.
Achieving effective resilience to floods and droughts builds on local action but also requires an integrated approach that combines scientific knowledge, effective policies, local and international best practices, and community engagement. Knowledge exchange and capacity development are essential to ensure that all parties have access to an array of innovations which can be adapted to the local context.
The New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance will be negotiated and theoretically confirmed at this COP. It is anticipated to be one of the outcomes of COP29, although several foundational issues are yet to be agreed.
An ambitious target is needed to support the range of needs of developing nations articulated in their NDCs and NAPs, including water-related issues. Given the role of water in supporting resilience, while avoiding or reducing loss and damage, climate finance needs to be well-coordinated and accessible.
Innovation is broader than technology and includes innovations in governance, legislation, finance, culture and working with nature. Good governance, finance, culture and partnerships are necessary to develop, bring to market and scale innovations.
A diverse range of perspectives and knowledge must be considered (includes indigenous, traditional and local knowledge) in planning and implementing water and climate management, as well as freshwater ecosystem protection and restoration. Solutions, whether traditional or innovative, can contribute to both immediate and long-term benefits in climate and water management and biodiversity conservation.
More information about water’s role as a means of implementation can be found here
A fair and just transition will recognise that for many vulnerable communities, progress on SDG6 is threatened by climate change.
People around the world who have done the least to cause the climate crisis continue to suffer from its devastating impacts – floods, droughts, fires, cyclones, heatwaves and rising sea levels. A just transition will engage fully with poverty, vulnerability and historic and contemporary exclusion. Building resilience to increased climate impacts should address these issues.
Most effects of climate change are felt through water; but this reality is not met by sufficient support and finance to build resilience of communities, minorities and vulnerable groups and ecosystems. Equity is a core concern, and voices of communities living in the overlap of insufficient water, sanitation and hygiene access and high climate exposure must be heard throughout COP29. Access to finance is a critical issue for local-level water and climate action.
A Gender Action Plan will be completed in November 2024 under the enhanced Lima work program on gender. The UNFCCC draft document offers opportunities to engage more closely with this work, for example through providing evidence on women’s agency and needs through climate-resilient and inclusive WASH.
Local communities’ and Indigenous people’s knowledge on water is highly relevant to the ongoing program of the Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform, including in the Annual Gathering of Knowledge Holders. The Water for Climate community will continue to support opportunities for sharing of Indigenous knowledge on water and climate including through official roundtables. This builds on Indigenous representation at key COP28 dialogues on water and climate.
Planning for equity and justice from the start of climate action is critical to ensuring peoples basic needs and rights are met – particularly as the world is still struggling to deliver SDG6 – with progress “alarmingly off-track”.
Climate change can introduce pressing new trade-offs between different uses and values of precious water resources. A just transition to a climate-safe world will keep the water needs of vulnerable communities at the centre to avoid response measures inadvertently undermining progress against SDG6.
More information about water’s role in a just transition can be found here
Recognizing the need to bridge more effectively towards those outside of the international water community, the Water for Climate Pavilion is encouraging its Core Partners to take on responsibilities to learn the issues and language in different climate spaces and build relationships with the stakeholders engaged there.
