MDBs Commit $19.6 Billion to Water Security in 2024, Report Shows EIB Leading with 25 % Share

MDBs Commit $19.6 Billion to Water Security in 2024, Report Shows EIB Leading with 25 % Share

(IN BRIEF) The first Joint Annual MDB Water Security Financing Report reveals that ten MDBs allocated $19.6 billion (€17 billion) to water projects in 2024, with nearly three-quarters directed to lower-income countries. Originating from a December 2024 commitment at the One Water Summit, the report sets a baseline for tracking MDB support through 2030. The EIB contributed over 25 percent of this financing and is on track to increase its water-sector lending to €15 billion by 2027 under its Water Resilience Programme. Featured collaborations include flood-control improvements in Benin, wastewater and drainage projects in Mongolia, and two decades of sewer modernization in Cyprus.

(PRESS RELEASE) LUXEMBOURG, 1-Jul-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — Ten leading multilateral development banks (MDBs) have committed a combined $19.6 billion (€17 billion) to water-sector investments in 2024, according to the inaugural Joint Annual MDB Water Security Financing Report unveiled in Seville during the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development. Nearly 75 percent of these funds will flow to low-, lower-middle-, and upper-middle-income countries.

The report fulfills a pledge made at the December 2024 One Water Summit in Riyadh by the African Development Bank Group, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank (EIB), Inter-American Development Bank Group, Islamic Development Bank, New Development Bank, World Bank Group, and Council of Europe Development Bank. These institutions vowed to ramp up water-sector support between 2025 and 2030 and to issue annual joint progress reports.

This first edition establishes a financing baseline and spotlights collaborative initiatives among the MDB Water Sector Coordination Group. It reveals that the EIB provided over 25 percent of total MDB water financing in 2024, aligning with its upcoming Water Resilience Programme, which aims to boost sector lending by 50 percent to €15 billion from 2025–2027 and potentially catalyze up to €40 billion in global water investments over three years.

“Building sustainable water systems worldwide requires not just capital but partnerships that unite investment, technical support, and shared expertise,” said Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB. “This report exemplifies our joint responsibility and our ambition to achieve more—together.”

Among the highlighted collaborations:

• Benin Flood Protection: The EIB, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, World Bank Group, and West African Development Bank are co-financing drainage upgrades across 34 basins in Cotonou to mitigate flood risks.
• Mongolian Water Infrastructure: The EIB and Asian Development Bank are partnering to construct wastewater treatment facilities and enhance rainwater drainage in multiple cities.
• Cyprus Sewerage Modernization: Over two decades, the EIB and Council of Europe Development Bank have co-financed the expansion and refurbishment of water and sewer networks in Cyprus’s principal municipalities.

Background

Half of the world’s population is estimated to live in areas facing water scarcity. Climate change is altering rainfall patterns and increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, threatening both the quantity and quality of water resources and damaging vital infrastructure. At the same time, cooperation to optimise water resource management and development is lacking, and fragmentation hampers water security. According to a World Bank study, the annual funding gap to achieve universal access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation is estimated at $138 billion (a mid-range estimate) between 2017 and 2030. On average, countries would need to nearly triple their annual spending to close this gap. The challenge is even greater in Sub-Saharan Africa, where spending would need to increase by up to 17 times, and in low-income or conflict-affected countries, where investment may need to rise by as much as 42 times.

Media Contact:

Press Office

press@eib.org
+352 43791

SOURCE: European Investment Bank