Delivering Sustainable Water Investments

As the European Commission advances water services investments under the Global Gateway, evidence from past and ongoing projects highlights that infrastructure investment alone does not guarantee long-term success.

Across developing and emerging economies, common challenges include underutilized assets, financially unsustainable utilities, political pushback, contract renegotiations, and early termination of public–private partnerships.

Evidence consistently shows that technical soundness and financial closure do not guarantee success. Projects that neglect institutional capacity, utility management skills, regulatory readiness, societal acceptance and user engagement often struggle during operation, regardless of how well they were designed, financed, or how sound their business models were.

This webinar responds to a clear lesson learned across decades of water investments: Infrastructure without people, institutions, and trust does not work. It aims to embed capacity development and societal engagement as essential enablers of bankable and resilient water investments.