Water Unite

Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting our partner Co-op in Kenya! Our chair, lord Malcolm Bruce, and Partnership Director, Louis Goring-Morris, joined Co-op senior leaders on an insights trip to see firsthand the impact our partnership is having in East Africa. Through a micro-contribution on branded bottled water sales, Co-op and their suppliers have raised over £4m to fund innovative social enterprises such as Sanivation and Mr. Green Trading Africa Kenya Ltd., helping to address key issues relating to water security and management. 🚰 Sanivation: A social enterprise dedicated to improving the overall health and dignity of urbanising communities in East Africa by providing access to clean, safe, and efficient sanitation services. Based in Naivasha, Kenya, Sanivation operates a circular economy treatment plant, transforming waste from pit latrines and septic tanks into fuel briquettes. These briquettes are used as a low carbon alternative energy source in local industry. ♻️ Mr Green Africa: An East African plastics pioneer, tackling the dual issues of waste management and exploitation in the waste-picking sector. Mr Green Africa provides workers with fair pay and a transparent value chain, helping to improve their livelihoods. The ethically sourced waste plastic is processed and turned into high-quality manufacturing inputs to be used in local industry, supporting the circular economy and reducing plastic waste. Emily Pearce, Senior Sustainable Sourcing and International Development Manager at Co-op, highlighted her experience on the trip: ‘It is a privilege to be able to visit Kenya and see first hand the impact our Co-op’s commitment to Water Unite makes to water security, alongside our water brands. Our partnership is enabling impact entrepreneurs to take action on the ground to benefit communities and the environment, as well as creating infrastructure and employment’. 💧 Thank you to Co-op members and colleagues for their continued support in tackling global water insecurity and promoting sustainability! To learn more about our partnership and how we’re making a difference, visit our website: https://lnkd.in/eHgnXzxa

🌍 💧 Fantastic to see Water Unite’s cause being amplified through our impactful partnerships with Co-op, Robinsons Britvic plc, and Ribena Lucozade Ribena Suntory. Water Unite’s pioneering corporate partners are setting new standards of global collaboration and engagement, directly linking every-day purchases to real-world solutions through innovative micro-levy contributions on in store products. Such initiatives are essential in providing the financial means to end water poverty worldwide. A huge thank you to all our corporate partners for their support in championing this vital mission! Let’s keep working together to make clean water and sanitation accessible for all. 💙 #WaterUnite #WaterSecurity #Sustainability

📣 Our Trustee at #COP29 Water Unite Trustee Satya S. Tripathi, Secretary General for the Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet, is currently attending #COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Here's a recap of two key sessions he attended: 🌍 'Just Resilience: Just Transitions towards a more equal and climate resilient society' 📍 Location: Side Event 7, Blue Zone This official COP29 side event explored the importance of placing equity at the centre of adaptation efforts. By focusing on equity, the event explored the unequal impacts of adaptation policies, which can fail to consider the pre-existing structural climate inequalities within/between countries. The panellists focused on moving from concept to practice, discussing: - Creating development indicators to measure climate justice. - Implementing Just Resilience strategies at the sub-national level. - Ensuring consideration for marginalised communities within National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). - Integrating the Just Transition Work Programme with the Global Goals on Adaptation (GGA). Satya underscored the vital need for accessible water, highlighting how water access is a fundamental issue often overlooked in Global North narratives around climate adaptation. 💡 Panellists: Katherine Browne (SEI — Stockholm Environment Institute), Jiten Yumnam (Centre for Advocacy and Research - India), Mbulaheni Mbodi (Presidential Climate Commission), Satya S. Tripathi (KISS - Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences) 🏛️ Event hosts: Climate Strategies, SEI — Stockholm Environment Institute, and Ministry of Planning and Development 🌊 '3 COPs, 1 Ocean' 📍 Location: The Ocean Pavilion, Blue Zone An insightful panel bringing together key global leaders on sustainability to discuss how the 3 Rio Conventions, Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Desertification, are intrinsically connected by the ocean. Panellists shared their perspectives on the importance of ocean science for the long term sustainability of people and planet, the shared conclusion being the fundamental interconnectedness of marine systems and climate. The ocean is the world's largest active carbon reservoir, storing 20 times more carbon that the atmosphere and terrestrial plants combined. Furthermore, it contains the majority of global biodiversity and acts as the engine for the global water cycle. 💡 Panellists: Cecilia Kinuthia-Njenga (UNFCCC UN), Margaret Leinen (Scripps Institution of Oceanography), Peter de Menocal (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), Satya S. Tripathi (Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet) 🏛️ Event host: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Satya's insights contribute to the vital dialogues on climate resilience and planetary water systems at #COP29, underscoring Water Unite's continued commitment to provide clean water for people and planet. #WaterForClimate #WaterSecurity #JustTransition #Ocean #Sustainability

🌍 Spotlight: The Water for Climate Pavilion at #COP29- A hub for Climate Action through Water Innovation! 💧 ⚡ We're thrilled to share that the Water for Climate Pavilion is live in the Blue Zone at COP29. This unique space, powered by a coalition of 70+ organisations, is designed to elevate water as a critical component of UNFCCC UN dialogues and COP29 Azerbaijan outcomes. The pavilion's mission is to drive home a simple truth: 'Climate Policy that does not prioritise water is incomplete policy' - Water for Climate Pavilion, 2024 Since its debut, first coordinated by SIWI - Stockholm International Water Institute at COP26, the Pavilion has unified voices across the global water sector and built bridges with non-water stakeholders. By promoting international collaboration, it aims to highlight the central role water-related climate solutions must have in future climate policy. 💡 Throughout COP29, the Pavilion will be organising a wide range of insightful sessions available, all designed to kick-start collaboration around water security and management solutions. 📅 A highlight event we're especially excited about: 'Compute for Climate Fellowship: Water Innovation and AI' November 16th, 10:00-11:00 GMT (Livestream available) Join Water Unite and our partners in supporting the Water for Climate Pavilion's work at COP29! For the full Pavilion schedule and to join the online event livestreams, visit: https://lnkd.in/ep5uyZ3n #WaterForClimate #Water #WaterUnite #UnitedNations #Partnerships #WaterSector #Collaboration

Excellent funding opportunity impact-driven enterprises in the WASH sector 📣

Today marked the beginning of the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29 Azerbaijan) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC UN), which is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan. ⏰ Running from the 11th to the 22nd of November, COP29 represents an opportunity for the world to come together and address the climate crisis, with world leaders and negotiators from UNFCCC member states collaborating with business leaders, young people, climate scientists and Indigenous Peoples to advance solutions for the climate crisis in a truly collective and inclusive way. 🚀 The key focus of this year will be negotiating a new approach to climate finance. A ‘New Collective Quantified Goal’ (NCQG) will be discussed, replacing the previous collective annual target of USD $100 billion mobilised by industrialised countries to support global climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Importantly these negotiations will examine the equality of accessing finance, ensuring that every region has fair access to vital climate and adaptation finance. 💧 COP29 also places water higher on the global climate agenda, which is essential given the integral role freshwater management plays in climate adaptation. The highly anticipated ‘Baku Dialogue on Water for Climate Action’, to be announced during the second week of COP29, will call upon stakeholders to integrate water-related mitigation and adaptation measures with climate policy, including Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs). The Dialogue will establish a consistent platform for collaboration on water agendas within wider climate discussion and action. ⚡ At Water Unite we are energised by the potential impact of COP29’s discussions on water-related climate solutions and inclusive financing models. Throughout COP29, we'll be sharing regular updates and summaries of important water-specific discussions and agreements, as well as more general weekly overviews to keep you up to date on all the events of #COP29. Watch this space for more! #ClimateAction #SustainableDevelopment #WaterForClimate #ClimateFinance

As Water Unite continues to tackle water poverty through our Water+ Thesis, we're excited to bring you the October edition of our monthly newsletter! This month’s highlights include updates from Jibu Zambia, insights from the 2024 GIIN Impact Forum, and more... Have thoughts? Share them in the comments below 💭

👏 Great to see Peter Higgs, chairman of Wellers Impact, showcasing the Water Unite Impact fund at The Global Impact Investing Network 2024 Impact Forum in Amsterdam last week. Peter noted that attendees were extremely interested in the micro-levy model used to raise donations from our corporate partners, which funds the catalytic first loss layer of the Water Unite Impact fund. This interest highlights the importance of new and innovative approaches to supporting direct investment in the water, sanitation and plastics sectors. To learn more about Water Unite Impact, reach out or visit: https://lnkd.in/eGZymUW4

Meet Duncan and Nelly Duncan and Nelly are fuel agents at Sanivation, where they convert waste biomass into briquettes, creating a sustainable fuel source. As part of this month's focus on Pillar 2 of our Water+ thesis, we are highlighting Sanivation, one of our investees, through a case study that demonstrates their positive impact on both people and the environment. Sanivation, based in Kenya, addresses critical sanitation and environmental challenges. They tackle poor waste management while providing an eco-friendly alternative to charcoal and wood. Find out more about Sanivation here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eVGiYAAG 👈 #sanitation #impactinvesting #environment #sustainablefinance

📣 “Water scarcity poses a significant risk that transcends individual sectors and affects the entire economy. As we approach 2030, a radical new approach to address this issue is required.” Lord Malcolm Bruce’s statement, in the recent press release announcing a US$7.5 million investment from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) in Water Unite Impact (WUI), highlights the ongoing challenge and impact of water scarcity. 771 million people still don't have clean water close to home and 1.7 billion people lack access to a toilet. The DFC’s funding will help WUI accelerate its mission of driving meaningful change in the sector and help address the significant funding gap in the water sector, closing the critical "missing middle".  #WaterSecurity #WaterScarcity #ImpactInvesting Read the full press release here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eu2-jXN2 👈