Water4Climate
In 2021 HELIOZ registered a “Program of Activities” (PoA) at the institution with the highest international standards for certification of voluntary carbon emission certificates - the Gold Standard. Under this program, a multitude of small-scale climate projects provide access to safe drinking water and generate premium CO2 certificates as well as high social impact.
This climate program focuses on India and Bangladesh as implementation countries.
Water4Climate India
The first 2 projects have been started at the end of 2021 in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. They will provide a total volume of 100,000 CO2 certificates per year while providing 50,000 households with safe drinking water.
Through a systematic approach, HELIOZ and the implementation partners facilitate behavior change in the field of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in these communities, while also creating a tremendous environmental and social impact. The projects do not only provide safe drinking water but also reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality by introducing a clean and sustainable solution for water disinfection without incurring running costs and harming the environment through deforestation and burning firewood.
For people and planet
When implementing its own climate projects, HELIOZ pays special attention to sustainable & social value. Our activities go far beyond drinking water treatment. With WASH (Water, Sanitation & Hygiene) campaigns, we raise awareness, reduce health expenditure and prevent waterborne diseases.
While local forests are protected through reduced wood consumption, we also put a special focus on women empowerment and strengthen the role of women as the main providers of clean drinking water. In this way, Water4Climate projects contribute to the achievement of a total of 9 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Project Area India
In 2020, two billion people still lacked access to safely managed drinking water services – 26% of the world’s population – and 771 million people even lacked access to basic drinking water services (UN Water, 2021). Among these, rural communities are the most affected with 8 out of 10 people living in rural areas having no access to basic drinking water services.
India is among the world’s most water-stressed countries. The reasons are not only seasonal variations with heavy rainfall and droughts but more importantly the lack of sustainable management of water resources and access to safe water sources.
Between 2012 and 2017, India registered 69.14 million cases of water-borne diseases. According to the ministry of Health and Family Welfare, diarrhea is the cause for 60% of all death in India – the leading killer.