Assessing the enabling environment for investment in water security in the EU’s Eastern Partner Countries

Delia Sanchez Trancon, Guy Halpern, Harry Smythe and Laura Madeleine Smith

No 265, OECD Environment Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: This report summarises findings from the OECD’s Scorecard assessment of the enabling conditions for investment in water security in the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine). Conducted under the EU-funded EU4Environment – Water Resources and Environmental Data programme, the assessment highlights commonalities in access to infrastructure services and regulatory frameworks, alongside variations in resource endowments and progress towards EU accession. Over the past two decades, each country has established policy foundations for water investment and management, though the maturity of key enabling factors varies. Recurring challenges include uneven enforcement of economic instruments and wastewater standards, and significantly limited planning capacity, leading to high levels of non-revenue water. While some major urban utilities have attracted private finance, smaller and rural providers face constraints in project preparation and regulatory compliance. Looking ahead, leveraging EU accession experiences, developing coherent national investment plans, strengthening enforcement of economic and regulatory tools, and exploring diversified financing, including climate and nature-based approaches, could enhance the region’s capacity to mobilise sustainable water security investments.

Keywords: data; Eastern Partner Countries; enabling environment; European Union; investment; irrigation; policy; public and private finance; regulation; sanitation; tool; wastewater; water resource management; water security; water supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H23 H41 H51 H54 L32 L38 L50 L95 L98 Q25 Q53 Q54 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-10-10
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:envaaa:265-en

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in OECD Environment Working Papers from OECD Publishing Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().