Water

• [New] In Iran, water shortage is considered one of the important factors limiting sustainable development and it is also predicted that Iran is going to be included in the list of countries that will face serious water shortages by 2025.
• [New] To achieve net zero by 2030, the water industry will need to reduce its current greenhouse gas emissions through the use of efficiency interventions and alternative technologies; renewable energy generation; and removing residual emissions by contributing to the UK's natural sequestration efforts.
• [New] SIWI is playing a leading role in the development of the Climate Action Pathway for Water, one of ten pathways for key sectors such as Water to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and boosting climate resilience at the pace needed to reach net-zero by 2050.
• [New] The energy companies plan to create the clean-burning gas by using renewable energy, generated by Orsted's North Sea wind farms, to split water into hydrogen and oxygen at BP's Lingen refinery from 2024.
• [New] Although water is virtually abundant, as much as two-thirds of the global population may live in regions with limited access to freshwater resources by 2050, as the world's population is predicted to grow to reach 11.2 billion people by 2100.
• After the next leasing round for offshore wind licence areas, there could be up to 10 GW in Scottish waters in the coming years.
• The United Nations recognises the role of biodiversity in stabilising climate and has declared that the next decade will be the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.
• The Blue Belt Programme makes a significant contribution to the UK-led 30 by 30 initiative, an international commitment made by the Global Ocean Alliance and launched by the UK in 2019 to protect at least 30% of the global ocean in Marine Protected Areas by 2030.
• The number of water AMI endpoints in North America will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13.5% to reach 70.1 million units in 2025.
• Ocean energy technologies are expected to make a significant contribution to Europe's energy system and industry as from 2030, in particular by supporting grid stability and playing a crucial role in the decarbonisation of EU islands.
• 3.5 billion people may face water stress by 2025; already today temporary water stress has dramatically increased in Europe due to climate change and increasing demand.
• Leaders must adopt and implement a target to fully and highly protect at least 30% of the global ocean and 30% of land areas and inland waters by 2030 through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative, and well-connected systems of protected areas.
• A five-year, £7 million programme led by NERC and running until 2022 - is designed to improve assessment of the Southern Ocean carbon sink and increase understanding of the role of the Southern Ocean in 21st-century global climate change.
• The effects of climate change throughout New Zealand in the next four to five decades could have severe effects on necessities such as water supply and primary industries.
• The total number of communicating utility water meters - including both AMI and AMR - will at the same time grow from 132.4 million units in 2019 to 204.6 million units in 2025.
• The WWF's Risk Filter analysis has said 100 cities that hold importance in national as well as global economies and are home to 350 million people are set to face the greatest rise in water risks by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
• As the Southern Ocean continues to warm in the coming decades, the Falkland Islands seabird communities may undergo abrupt turnover or collapse, which could happen on the order of decades.
• The UK set a target to back up to two times the capacity of renewable energy in the next Contracts for Difference auction, which will open in late 2021.
• The $90 trillion infrastructure investment required by 2030, for a high-carbon economy, across transport, energy, water systems and cities, would only need to be marginally increased by an estimated $270 billion per year for a low-carbon scenario.
• Snowy mountain winters are being "squeezed" by climate change, according to scientists in California: snow that millions rely on for their fresh water.
• In an effort to encourage more non-hydroelectric renewable energy, Oregon will require its largest utilities to get 50% of the electricity they sell from new renewable energy sources by 2040.

Last updated: 28 November 2020