Integrating sanitation and climate change in national level policy frameworks

The report finds a significant disconnect between sanitation and climate policy, with only 2% of activities in analyzed NDCs addressing sanitation. While some countries like Jordan, Bolivia, and Uganda show detailed integration, many national sanitation policies are outdated and ignore climate risks. The authors argue that integrating these frameworks can unlock climate finance, reduce greenhouse gas emissions (which currently account for approximately 1.3% of global totals), and enhance community and ecosystem resilience.

• Sanitation priorities remain marginal in national climate frameworks; only 2% of the 8,846 activities in updated NDCs from 144 countries relate to sanitation and wastewater.
• National sanitation policies frequently lack climate considerations; less than half of the 121 countries in the GLAAS 2021/2022 survey address climate change risks or WASH system resilience in their urban and rural sanitation plans.
• Sanitation systems contribute approximately 1.3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet mitigation efforts are largely overlooked in NDCs, where 69% of sanitation activities focus on adaptation and only 19% on mitigation.
• Certain countries demonstrate advanced integration of sanitation and climate goals: Jordan focuses on wastewater treatment and biogas; Bolivia emphasizes climate-resilient and equitable systems; and Uganda utilizes 'bio-latrines' and integrated wastewater treatment to address methane.
• Integrating sanitation and climate policies offers multiple systemic benefits, including the potential to access climate finance from entities like the Green Climate Fund, improving food security through treated wastewater reuse, and protecting ecosystems such as mangroves and coral reefs.
• Recent multistakeholder processes have advanced policy integration in several countries, including Indonesia's new resilience framework, Viet Nam's law on water supply and sewerage services, and Malawi's Climate-Resilient WASH Finance Strategy, which helped the country access over USD 145 million.

APA

Lazzati, S., Ddiba, D., & Macura, B. (2024). Integrating sanitation and climate change in national level policy frameworks. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sanitation-climate-national-policy-sei2024-052.pdf

Chicago

Lazzati, Sveva, Daniel Ddiba, and Biljana Macura. Integrating sanitation and climate change in national level policy frameworks. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2024. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sanitation-climate-national-policy-sei2024-052.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lazzati |first1=Sveva |last2=Ddiba |first2=Daniel |last3=Macura |first3=Biljana |title=Integrating sanitation and climate change in national level policy frameworks |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=November 2024 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sanitation-climate-national-policy-sei2024-052.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lazzati2024integrating, author = {Lazzati, Sveva and Ddiba, Daniel and Macura, Biljana}, title = {{Integrating sanitation and climate change in national level policy frameworks}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2024}, month = nov, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/sanitation-climate-national-policy-sei2024-052.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }