President,
Republic of Singapore
Through independent research, policy engagement and advocacy, the Commission advances a new economics of water that places justice and equity at the heart of efforts to safeguard the sustainability and resilience of the water cycle. It brings together evidence, ideas, and partnerships to translate this understanding into action, from local communities to the global economy.
Launched in May 2022 and convened by the Government of the Netherlands, the GCEW brings together an independent and diverse group of leaders and experts spanning economics, science, public policy, and practice. Initially facilitated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Commission’s Secretariat is now hosted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The Commission retains its independent status.
The Commission’s flagship report, published in October 2024, set out a fundamental reassessment of water’s role in the economy and the changes needed to value and govern it differently. It established an agenda for systemic action, linking the hydrological cycle to economic development, climate change, biodiversity, and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
The report marked a foundation for continued work, not its conclusion. Since its publication, the Commission has expanded its research, policy analysis and advocacy through further papers, briefs, and engagement with decisionmakers and communities of practice.
The GCEW is now developing a follow-up report for the SDG Summit, alongside local and regional reports, research, and programs that connect its global agenda to the priorities and realities of different places and partners.
This work includes collaboration on the Amazon with the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN); on the Mediterranean with regional partners; on water circularity with GWI; and on water diplomacy and innovation with Delft University of Technology. Through these and other partnerships around the world, the Commission connects research with practical opportunities to change how water is valued, governed, financed, and used.
Advancing the economics of water and deepening understanding of the relationships between the water cycle, prosperity, equity, and planetary stability.
Bringing diverse knowledge, perspectives and lived experience into research and policy, and ensuring that communities help shape the changes that affect them.
Translating evidence into policy and practice, building coalitions, and supporting initiatives that advance justice, sustainability, and resilience.
Climate change and deforestation are reshaping the monsoon, causing ice on the Tibetan plateau to melt, affecting freshwater supplies to over a billion people. Rising global temperatures are changing evaporation patterns and reducing moisture feedback from forests, disrupting downwind rainfall in Latin America and Africa.
A destabilised global water cycle is aggravating climate change across the world, narrowing a window of opportunity for action.
Water-use restrictions, power cuts, and other stopgap measures can no longer conceal the fact that our policies and institutions to manage water are not suited for a world of unsustainable consumption, expanding vulnerability and global environmental change.
All our current arrangements rest on the assumption, that the local and regional supply of water is relatively stable, predictable and manageable. This is no longer true. Humanity is now in the midst of a global water crisis, around which the cost of inaction is unbearable, for both the Global North and the Global South.
We must recognise that all our key sustainable development challenges are connected to water, from poverty reduction, and inclusive growth to sustainable livelihoods – whether there is too much or too little water, or whether it is too polluted for human use.
The task now is to properly define, value, and govern water as a global common good, based on a better understanding of the links between water, economic development, climate change and biodiversity loss. Thinking about water in this way will allow us to mobilise urgent collective action and design new rules that put equity and justice at the center of our response to a local to global emergency.
Water can be the lever and catalyst of a new development model, based on more equitable premises, as well as a better stewardship of nature. These solutions will require a long period of large investments, with high levels of mobilised finance.
This will only happen if the right enabling conditions are in place and all stakeholders handle collective action strategically.
Top image: The Rhine river in Cologne, Germany, with low water levels due to drought in July 2022.
The Co-Chairs lead and set the direction for the Commission.
President,
Republic of Singapore
Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Director-General, World Trade Organization
Professor at University College London and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
Executive Director, Global Commission on the Economics of Water, and Former First Special Envoy for International Water Affairs, Kingdom of The Netherlands
This group of eminent individuals provide critical reflection and ensure global relevance of the Commission (regional representation), inclusiveness (including youth, indigenous people), and capacity to reach out to communities of practice (local authorities, financiers, corporates, civil society).
Mayor of the City of Freetown, Sierra Leone , and Co-Chair, C40 Cities
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mexico
Chief Economist, Sustainable Development Vice Presidency, World Bank
Former President of the UN General Assembly, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador
Professor, Environmental Law and Policy, Yale Law School
CEO, Council of Energy, Environment and Water, New Delhi, India
Professor, Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, University of Amsterdam
Executive Vice President and Director, Center for Global Commons, University of Tokyo
Founder, China’s Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE)
President, Chinese Society for Urban Studies
Emeritus President, Club of Rome, South Africa; Co-Founder of Reimagine SA, Chair, Global Compassion Coalition; Chair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Intellectual Property Trust
Former Under-Secretary-General and Associate Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
Director, Indian Institute for Human Settlements
Executive Secretary, International Whaling Commission Secretariat, and Former Secretary-General, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Director, African Department, International Monetary Fund
Founding Director, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt
Director for the Environment Directorate, OECD
Founder, Green Generation Initiative