Global Water Intelligence (GWI)'s coverage of the 2026 UN Water Conference, Abu Dhabi, 8 to 10 December: what is happening, why it matters, and what you need to know.
days to the opening plenary
Abu Dhabi, 8 to 10 December 2026
A coalition to put a shared global target for water reuse on the post-SDG agenda.
Getting from today's municipal reuse levels at 11% to the target of 50% by 2045 is no easy feat.
They're presenting their research and global policy paper at the UN Water Conference.
A network of the world's most ambitious utilities pledged to deliver SDG 6 to 300 million more people by 2030.
They're bringing that missing utility voice to the UN conference, and representing some of the most underfunded utilities in the discussion on bankability.
In May, GWI surveyed private sector attitudes to working with UN water entities, the key to unlocking much-needed investment in water.
We presented the findings to the UN water meeting in Rome in October.
The question for Abu Dhabi is what the right mode of collaboration looks like.
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GWI White PaperIf industrial water users want to grow their businesses whilst resources diminish, reuse must become fundamental to their plans.