New InterLink: July 2022 edition

The Global Water Summit was recently held in Madrid with participation from more than 800 of the water industry’s leading operators, innovators and investors.

One of the key subjects was proposed through the following question:

“How long time will it take to make the water industry carbon neutral?”

At the beginning of the conference, 14% or the participants declared that they thought this could be managed by 2025. On the last day, that number had increased to 35%.

In 2019, the Danish government presented the ambition to bring down carbon emissions by 70% before 2030. The water industry quickly supported the plan with the promise of 100% climate neutrality before the 2030 deadline; an ambitious but not unrealistic goal, as many of the large water utilities are far in their green transition journey. The “best in class” examples are close to obtaining 100% surplus energy, meaning that they produce twice as much energy as they use to run their own processes. Unfortunately, the Danish law prevents the utilities from using this energy to run their own facilities, forcing them to sell off the energy to the grid – and buy back the amount they need.

The same goes for one of the new trends – heating pumps. A heating pump from a semi-large treatment facility can produce enough energy to heat up around 5,000 houses. Luckily, the legislations have been updated recently, so they can now deliver heat to the district heating network.

When the Global Water Summit brings up the carbon neutral water sector, it is because wastewater utilisation as a source to green energy is increasingly in focus. And why do we not flip the picture, so instead of “just” cleaning water, the no. 1 task for a treatment plant would be to produce and sell energy? Almost all other processes in a community needs energy, and besides contributing to the 2030 ambition, it is good for our environment and for the climate.

When browsing through this edition, you will find that sustainability and climate adaptation projects make up an increasing part of our portfolio, as well as smart, sustainable ways of operating and maintaining water utilities around the world.

And yes, maybe there is still some heavy steps to be taken when it comes to reaching carbon neutrality. But it is not because we lack the means or the technologies. We need the cooperation, and we need the decisions to be made.

Enjoy reading.
Michael Ramlau-Hansen