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Earthjustice's statement on the Omnibus Spending Package praises funding for federal agencies, solar energy in Puerto Rico, and water infrastructure in Jackson, Mississippi. However, it criticizes the bill for undermining the Endangered Species Act regarding right whales, extending EPA pesticide review deadlines, and failing to meet U.S. climate finance commitments to developing nations made at COP 27.

The KISIMA project, a partnership between the NGO Oikos East Africa and the company GadgetroniX, replaced inefficient diesel-powered pumps with AC current solar water pumping systems in 11 communities within Tanzania's Manyara Region. The project provided safe and sustainable water access to over 240,000 people, reduced operational costs, and included training for local institutions to ensure long-term water management and climate resilience.

The 2022 Climate, Environmental, and Energy Congressional Hearings Tracker catalogs hearings held by various U.S. House and Senate committees. The tracker covers a wide array of topics including the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, electric vehicle infrastructure, methane pollution, and agricultural resiliency. It details the specific dates and titles of hearings across committees such as the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

The report examines the failures of water privatisation in Europe, citing infrastructure decay and high profits in the UK and France, while highlighting successful re-municipalisation in Paris and public resistance in Greece, Ireland, and Italy. It advocates for public ownership and cross-border cooperation to manage water as a public security issue and a public good, rather than a commodity, to effectively adapt to climate change.

Wildfires in the western United States are increasing in size and severity due to climate change and historical fire suppression, posing significant risks to water resources. High-severity fires destroy vegetation and alter soil chemistry, leading to increased streamflow, flooding, and the contamination of drinking water with sediments, toxins, and carcinogens. The document advocates for a combination of emissions reductions, active forest management—including prescribed and Indigenous cultural burns—and investments in climate-resilient water infrastructure to mitigate these threats.

A coalition of organizations recommends that the EPA implement a comprehensive technical assistance (TA) strategy to help small, rural, and environmental justice communities overcome financial and capacity barriers when applying for SRF funding. The letter argues that without proactive TA—including one-on-one support, planning grants, and pre-development loans—funding will continue to be inequitably distributed toward wealthier applicants. Key recommendations include utilizing the $1 billion IIJA set-aside for outreach, training utilities in community engagement, and supporting green infrastructure projects to enhance climate resilience.

The Sector Adaptation Strategy and Adaptation Plan (SASAP) for Water Resources in Suriname outlines a framework to build resilience against climate-driven threats such as sea level rise, erratic precipitation, and saltwater intrusion. It identifies the water sector as a high-priority 'now' sector and proposes seven project concepts—ranging from vulnerability assessments and data system establishment to infrastructure rehabilitation—with an estimated total budget of USD 18.25 million. A central pillar of the plan is a gender-responsive approach, addressing the disproportionate burden on women in water collection and their underrepresentation in governance, while integrating local and Indigenous knowledge into adaptation actions.

GreenLatinos advocates for the immediate passage of the Build Back Better Act (BBBA), arguing that the legislation is essential for providing climate justice, clean energy infrastructure, and water security to disproportionately affected Latino and Indigenous communities. The organization specifically calls on Senator Joe Manchin and Colorado Senators Hickenlooper and Bennett to support the bill's provisions on coastal restoration, lead removal from drinking water, and sustainable transportation.

The 2021 Climate, Environmental, and Energy Congressional Hearings Tracker catalogs a wide array of legislative inquiries across both the House and Senate. The hearings covered a diverse range of subjects, including the 'Clean Future Act', the 'American Jobs Plan', the impact of PFAS 'forever chemicals', and the resilience of the electric grid following the 2021 Texas grid failure. Significant attention was given to environmental justice, the role of the Department of Energy in innovation, and international climate strategies leading up to COP26. The tracker organizes these hearings by committee, detailing the specific focus of each session, from sustainable aviation and offshore wind to the management of public lands and the risks of climate change in the Arctic.

Climate Investor Two is a fund managed by a consortium including Climate Fund Managers and FMO to deploy EUR 160 million from the Dutch Fund for Climate and Development. It utilizes a three-stage financing structure—development, construction, and re-financing—to target water, oceans, and sanitation subsectors. The fund aims to attract institutional investors and local banks into low- and lower middle-income countries by offering investable securities and building local capacity to manage climate project risks. Success depends on a strong ecosystem of project developers, favorable policy environments, and moderate currency stability in target countries.

The ACT Fund is a mid-market greenfield infrastructure fund designed to overcome investment barriers in West Africa by combining technical assistance, equity, and subordinated debt. It utilizes a 'blended currency mechanism' to reduce financing friction during early project stages and provides structured exit solutions for international equity by refinancing projects with local-currency senior debt once they are operational. The fund targets an initial capitalization of USD 150 million for equity and USD 100 million for subordinated debt, with a primary focus on renewable energy before expanding into urban mobility, water, and waste systems.

The report highlights a significant gap in adaptation finance, noting that while total global climate finance reached US$437 billion in 2015, only 16 percent was dedicated to adaptation. It argues that public finance is insufficient to meet the projected costs of building resilience in the developing world, which could reach US$500 billion by 2050. The text identifies critical barriers to private sector engagement, including a lack of predictable returns, deficient regulatory frameworks, and knowledge gaps regarding climate vulnerability. It further examines how climate change threatens key sectors—agriculture, energy, health, and transport—while suggesting that these vulnerabilities also present new market opportunities for climate-resilient products and infrastructure.

The document outlines the structure of South Africa's public water sector, which spent R 41.5 billion on infrastructure procurement in the 2019/2020 financial year. It details the roles of entities like the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation (DHSWS) and Water Services Authorities (WSAs), and explains the predominantly used design-bid-build procurement model. The guide provides a comprehensive breakdown of bidding requirements, including B-BBEE compliance and the necessity of registering on the Central Supplier Database. It also highlights the importance of strategic partnerships to overcome bidding barriers and lists available platforms for trialling innovative water technologies.

The Water Infrastructure Criteria under the Climate Bonds Standard provide a framework for certifying bonds that finance engineered, nature-based, or hybrid water infrastructure. To be eligible, assets must meet both mitigation and adaptation requirements. Mitigation is assessed based on net GHG emissions impact or, for desalination plants, a specific carbon intensity threshold of 100g CO2e/kWh. Adaptation and resilience are evaluated through a Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Plan, scored via a detailed scorecard covering allocation, governance, technical diagnostics, and specific requirements for nature-based solutions and desalination plants. The criteria exclude investments in fossil fuels, nuclear energy, mining, and water-driven energy like hydropower.

The document details the three-phase development of the Water Infrastructure Criteria, which aim to prevent 'greenwashing' in the green bond market by providing scientific standards for water-related investments. It covers built, nature-based, and hybrid infrastructure, with a specific focus on the newly added desalination criteria. The framework emphasizes a process-based approach to climate vulnerability assessments and sets a carbon intensity threshold of 100gCO2/kWh for desalination plants to align with the Paris Agreement.

The paper examines the gap between the de jure framework of decentralisation in South Africa and the practical realities in municipalities. It argues that while decentralisation aims to improve service delivery and accountability, it is often compromised by 'elite capture', capacity constraints, and the misuse of recentralisation mechanisms for political ends. Through case studies of Mogalakwena and Lephalale, the author demonstrates how provincial political battles and the legacy of private-sector 'company town' governance hinder the provision of basic public goods.

The South African Water Caucus (SAWC) issued a series of letters between April and August 2020 to the South African government, including the Minister of Water and Sanitation and the President, demanding emergency water and sanitation services. The correspondence highlights a critical lack of access to clean water and soap in numerous rural and informal settlements, which the SAWC argues increases the risk of COVID-19 transmission and violates constitutional rights. The document includes detailed annexures listing specific communities in the Western Cape, Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Free State suffering from dry taps, unreliable water tankers, and inadequate sanitation.

The GGT2030 plan targets the development of ten high-growth sectors in Gauteng through significant infrastructure investment, the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), and the digitalization of government services. Key goals include spending R60 billion on infrastructure by 2025 to create 100,000 jobs and investing R1.3 trillion by 2030 across water, energy, and transport sectors. The strategy emphasizes inclusive growth via township-based business support, the 'Welfare-to-Work' programme for 100,000 young women, and the creation of a 'silicon valley of Africa' through high-tech SEZs and universal broadband in townships.

The South African Water Caucus (SAWC) is urging the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) to address critical water and sanitation shortages in more than 200 communities. The letter highlights failures in the DWS hotline, the lack of coordination via the National Disaster Water Command Centre, and the severe health risks posed to vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides a detailed annexure of affected areas across several provinces, including the Western Cape, Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, and Free State, where residents rely on polluted rivers, unreliable water trucks, or have no infrastructure at all.

In 2019, China's labelled green bond market grew by 33% to USD 55.8 billion, making it the largest global source of such bonds. The market saw a shift in issuer types, with non-financial corporates becoming the largest group and the introduction of the first municipal green bond. While domestic issuance is strong, discrepancies remain between Chinese guidelines and international standards, particularly regarding the use of proceeds for general working capital and the inclusion of 'clean coal' projects. The report recommends harmonizing definitions with international standards, such as those of the EU, and increasing transparency to attract more foreign investment.