Safe Drinking Water

Carbon Avoidance

Household & Community Devices

Household & Community Devices for Corporate Net-Zero Strategies

Safe drinking water projects increase access to clean water through household filters, water treatment systems, and borehole development.

They reduce CO₂ emissions by limiting the need to boil water, improve health by preventing waterborne diseases, and strengthen local livelihoods through training, employment, and community participation.

Maximizing Carbon Impact through Safe Drinking Water

Emission reduction type: Avoidance

Risk of reversal: Low

Permanence: Years to decades

Price range: From €7 to €15

Safe drinking water projects involve funding borehole rehabilitation and water filters to improve water security for local communities. By improving water security and ensuring access to clean water, these projects help prevent waterborne diseases and provide reliable water for field cultivation and livestock feeding.

This not only helps to improve the livelihoods of women and children, who often bear the responsibility for water collection, but also protects local forests. Because these solutions reduce the need to burn firewood to boil water for purification, they avoid CO₂ emissions and eliminate indoor respiratory health risks. Local communities are given training and employment opportunities to maintain and repair the boreholes, providing families with a new source of income alongside their saved time.

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Enhancing Water Security, Health, Sanitation & Ecosystems

Safe drinking water projects generate co-benefits that strengthen local biodiversity, reduce waterborne diseases and reduce pressure on forests.

SDGs including

Biodiversity

Protection of freshwater and surrounding terrestrial ecosystems through reduced deforestation and land degradation, helping maintain local biodiversity and ecosystem integrity.

Environmental

Reduced pressure on forests from lower firewood use for boiling water, protection of soil and water resources, and avoided CO₂ emissions associated with traditional water purification practices.

Social

Health benefits from improved access to safe drinking water, including reduced waterborne diseases and indoor air pollution, enhanced livelihoods for local communities, women’s empowerment, and time savings through reduced water collection burden.

Why Integrate Safe Drinking Water Projects into your Corporate Climate Strategy?

Integrating safe drinking water projects into a broader climate contribution strategy enables companies to support the reduction of CO₂ emissions from inefficient water purification methods while delivering significant social and environmental benefits. These projects improve water security, prevent waterborne diseases, help protect forests, and empower women and children by reducing the burden of water collection.

For companies, these projects provide an opportunity to support essential solutions for climate action, community adaptation, and sustainable development. Their contributions directly expand access to safe drinking water, addressing urgent health challenges, improving livelihoods, unlocking household economic opportunities, and strengthening regional resilience against environmental degradation.

Expert Insight

Safe drinking water projects improve water security through interventions such as borehole rehabilitation, water pump installation, or household water filter distribution. Depending on the project design, they can improve access to safe water, strengthen local livelihoods, reduce pressure on surrounding biomass and forest resources, and deliver important health and community resilience benefits. For carbon credit buyers, these projects offer meaningful social and environmental co-benefits alongside verified emissions reductions.

Iléana Perey
Carbon Project Analyst

Project Examples

Project Example

Sustainable Clean Water in Malawi

Carbon Avoidance Safe Drinking Water

Avoided every year 150,000 tCO₂e

Boreholes repaired 550

Walk to water source ≤500m

Unsafe water and sanitation practices contribute to Malawi having one of the highest mortality rates in the world; therefore, 900 boreholes were installed & rehabilitated in the Dowa and Kasungu Districts to provide clean water to households, eliminating the need to boil water for purification.

Project Example

Safe Drinking Water in Mozambique

Carbon Avoidance Safe Drinking Water

Avoided every year 440,000 tCO2e

Boreholes repaired 2,050

Annual Water Supply XL

Following devastating cyclones that damaged numerous boreholes in Mozambique, this project was launched to restore access to safe drinking water for hundreds of households. By deploying resilient borehole technology, the initiative eliminates the need for communities to consume firewoods for boiling and purifying water, therefore significantly reducing local CO₂ emissions.

Water is an integral part of our daily routine. We need our borehole alive year in and year out, because no one would suffer the consequences of a broken borehole like we would. Because of this, we found ourselves taking over most of the operational activities because the men in the committee were not active and, most importantly, we had been empowered through training sessions supported by the project. Since then, the women in the committee have been on top of things. It is delighting that all the women in the committee can do small maintenances. We have named our borehole ‘mjigo wa azimayi’ (borehole for women) because the women run it.

Marigeta

Community Member

Q&As

Safe drinking water projects can generate carbon credits by reducing the need for households to boil water using firewood or charcoal. By providing access to safe water through boreholes, water treatment systems, or household filtration technologies, these projects can reduce greenhouse gas emissions that would otherwise result from traditional water purification practices. Emissions reductions are quantified and independently verified according to the requirements of recognized carbon standards.

In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, safe drinking water projects can improve public health by reducing exposure to waterborne pathogens and indoor air pollution. They can strengthen water security, reduce pressure on forests, create local employment opportunities, and save time for households by reducing the need to collect water and fuelwood. These benefits can be particularly significant for women and children, who often bear a greater share of water and fuel collection responsibilities.

Safe drinking water projects can complement corporate emissions-reduction efforts by supporting verified emissions reductions while delivering social and environmental benefits. As part of a diversified climate contribution portfolio, they can contribute to areas such as improved health, water security, community resilience, and forest protection, while supporting progress toward relevant Sustainable Development Goals. Their contribution should be considered alongside, rather than as a substitute for, reductions in a company's own emissions.