Water and wastewater management

In 2023, we invested about €4.1 billion in the sector. Our impact for 2023 included:

• Improved sanitation for 1.9 million people
• Better access to safe drinking water for 4.9 million people
• Less risk of flooding for 1.5 million people

The EIB supports investment that:

• increases secure access to water resources
• protects against floods and other destructive water-related events
• ensures reliable provision of sustainable and affordable water and wastewater services promote resource efficiency (energy, chemicals, water)

We help our clients to maximise their resources: in the wastewater sector, we finance facilities with a focus on energy and materials recovery, for instance bio-gas that turns recycled bio-waste into renewable energy.

Such integrated approaches, for example by using treated wastewater for irrigation, show that we can sustainably manage limited global resources.

You can find in our EIB water sector lending orientation general information on how we assess water projects for financing. This lending guidance focuses on water security.