National Frameworks and Roadmaps for Net Zero Water Utilities: Canada, Australia and the UK
Canada | Charting the Course to Net Zero Water in Canada: Creating a Canadian Net Zero Water Roadmap for Municipal Water Utilities (2024 – Ongoing)
The first ever Canadian Net Zero Water Roadmap will be created through the engagement of Canada’s largest municipal water utilities, cleantech networks and individual companies, CWN’s private sector Innovation Partners, provincial water associations, international water research centres, energy utilities, regulatory bodies, and academia to share knowledge and approaches to reduce GHGs.
Australia | The Net Zero Carbon Water Cycle Program
The Net Zero Carbon Water Cycle Program (NZCWCP) that is being driven by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI) and the University of Queensland (UQ) is set within the contexts of the policy obligations on water utilities and the transitions in governance and systems thinking that utilities are making as they play greater roles in delivering broader sustainability outcomes, within the context of a circular economy.
The NZCWCP aims to comprehensively and systematically identify technical, behavioural and enabling factors that lead to sustainable reductions in water related energy (electricity and gas) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of water in the entire water cycle across Metropolitan Melbourne. The Program has three inter-related projects.
Project 1: Residential households. The reduction of water related GHG emissions in residential households, with the use of hot water as a key factor. The project has three phases and Phase 1 has been completed.
Project 2: Industry and businesses
Project 3: Urban areas
This project contributes to achieve the net-zero GHG emissions target that the Victorian Government and other governments in Australia have committed to achieve by 2050. The Victorian Government’s water strategy, Water for Victoria, requires water corporations to commit to a pathway by 2050 for net-zero emissions and to pledge an interim emission reduction target to be achieved by 2025. This Net Zero Carbon Water Cycle Program aims to achieve an even bigger prize, which is to significantly reduce - towards zero - the amount of GHGs emitted through water use in residential, industry/businesses and urban areas.
United Kingdom | Water UK Net Zero 2030 Routemap
The routemap provides options for the strategic direction to decarbonisation for the sector (water companies, regulators, supply chain). This is accompanied by a sector guidance document featuring guidance and tools for individual water companies to develop and implement the action plans. The routemap also highlights opportunities where the water sector can facilitate carbon reductions in the wider system that are outside its net zero 2030 boundary.
