By Jeff Kapembwa
A staggering U$22 tln is needed to invest in the water sector globally by the year 2050 amid the escalating climate change crisis eclipsing the planet.
Estimates by experts shows that the high rate of water depletion in various reservoirs and water bodies has heightened the need for sustained investment from the current estimate of between $7-$23 trillion and scaling up later by 2050, a call for private sector partnership to share costs.
A recently held United Nations organized water conference in Cape Town, South Africa and attended by various interest groups revealed grave concerns at the high rate at which was being sucked from reliable water bodies with a call to build infrastructure to preserve the depleting resource.
While various initiatives have been mooted to preserve water, climate change’s emerging on the planet, caused by various temperature variations, costs are estimated to surge to US23 trillion from the present US$6.7 trillion, hence the need for partnership to close the investment gap in climate-resilient water infrastructure globally.
With Africa sluggishly mobilising just $10-19 billion annually against its $30 billion target for water infrastructure, there is need for innovative financing models and public-private-philanthropic partnerships to bridge the gap have become even more urgent.
The revelations were made during the conference and in the context of that country’s G20 presidency, which the country hosted early August this year in collaboration with among other partners, the AU-AIP Africa.
The water investment summit sought to mobilise climate-resilient water and sanitation investments that advance water security, economic growth and sustainable development on the continent.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) in partnership with Senegal will bring together heads of states, ministers, development finance institutions, private investors, project developers and civil society representatives to the water summit from convened in Cape Town from August 13-15, 2026.
The 2026 United Nations Water Conference, in partnership with AUDA-NEPAD, Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the Global Climate Finance Centre (GCFC), co-hosted the high-level session themed, “Financing Africa’s water future: catalysing investment and partnerships a head to the 2026 UN water conference.”
The summit represents a key milestone on the road to the 2026 UN water conference following last month’s adoption of its six interactive dialogue themes by consensus.
The themes place a particular emphasis on “Investments for water: financing, technology and innovation and capacity building,” positioning the summit in Cape Town as a critical input to the preparatory process.
The session commenced by the co-hosts highlighting the political will needed to speed up water investments in Africa and globally.
The UAE Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Energy and Sustainability Abdulla Balalaa, said “with all 193 member states having just agreed last month, by consensus, on the themes for the 2026 UN water conference, the AU-AIP Africa water investment summit comes at exactly the right moment.
“It is a vital platform to advance one of those priorities – Investments for Water – by driving the financing, innovation and partnerships needed to deliver results for Africa and the world he stated.”
Setting the stage for Africa’s future prosperity, AUDA-NEPAD Chief Executive Nardos Bekele-Thomas underscored water’s foundational role that includes affordable and reliable water access as the foundation upon which Africa’s prosperity will be set up.
“We see every investment in water just like in health, stability and economic growth and we continue building strong partnerships and unlocking innovative finance, to turn Africa’s vast demand and potential into tangible solutions that safeguard communities today and create sustainable futures for generations to come” she told the conference.
Participants to the conference highlighted four core themes, exploring concrete solutions:
Showcasing scalable financing models such as blended finance, concessional loans and guarantees tailored for water infrastructure, identifying policy regulatory and technical barriers blocking private investment and exploring solutions to de-risk projects.
There is clarion call to improving bankability and pipeline readiness through standardised metrics data transparency and aggregation platform and shaping the ‘Investments for Water’ theme for the 2026 UN water conference interactive dialogue on financing, technology and capacity-building.
Turning to the design of financing mechanisms, Children Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) emphasised the need to collaborate with governments to close the water financing gap in Africa, pointing out that it is important that they design investments.
The World Bank, in its report encourages investment in climate resilient infrastructure notes that there are net benefits to investing in more resilient infrastructure in low and middle-income countries, with potential gains around US$4.2 trillion.
Adaptation and Damage Reduction:
Adaptation measures, such as investing in resilient infrastructure, could remove up to 70% of climate change damages by the end of the century, at a cost of less than 0.5% of GDP.