Opportunities in European water policy: Making the most of the EU Water Resilience Strategy
Europe is suffering from drought and flooding more and more frequently; the situation is also worsening in many places around the world. New strategies to combat the water emergency are therefore urgently needed.
Overview
At the beginning of June 2025, the EU Commission presented a Water Resilience Strategy. It represents a realignment and re-networking of EU policy on the topic of water. Advancing climate change and the already tense water situation, with a growing risk of water emergencies in Europe, make this step necessary.
The EU's strategy contains some very good approaches, but needs to be supplemented further. in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, 'climate-resilient water management' should serve as a guiding principle for the entire EU water policy, the member states' water authorities and local water associations. Green water, i.e. water that is stored in the soil, is a key aspect here; farmers would then also act as green-water caretakers. EU water policy should moreover create more synergies between policy areas – such as the agricultural sector or industry – than has hitherto been proposed, and create links to other directives and regulations. Furthermore, the WBGU recommends a common EU foreign policy on water and a more intensive commitment to new forms of governance at the international level.
The EU Commission's Water Resilience Strategy prioritizes the requirements of efficient EU water management and integrates them into EU policy areas. The pressure to act is considerable: member states are confronted with the effects of climate change, especially water emergencies that destabilize societies and ecosystems. To counter these impacts, the EU can no longer rely on existing knowledge alone, since current developments in precipitation are transcending the fluctuation margins of the past. This leads to planning uncertainty in the water industry with regard to the quantity and quality of water.
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Climate-resilient water management as a new guiding principle
The core of the EU Water Resilience Strategy 2025 is a new principle called 'Water Efficiency First': water consumption should be reduced and water use made more efficient – e.g. by means of water recycling – before making additional water resources available. The WBGU recommends supplementing this principle with another guiding principle: climate-resilient water management, which is characterized by effectiveness and flexibility, local feasibility, multifunctionality, as well as social balance and participation. The WBGU proposes four criteria to guide action and decision-making when selecting and designing measures for climate-resilient water management. Such measures should be:
- effective and flexible: The effectiveness of measures should be assessed with respect to their specific water-related aims and their contribution to restoring a climate-resilient landscape-water balance. Various time scales are relevant here. Structures and processes in water management must be designed to be adaptable and rectifiable by all actors in order to do justice to the ongoing changes.
- locally feasible: The local feasibility of measures should be assessed in a context-specific way, depending on available resources and capacity – also in long-term planning. Potential conflicts of interest, relating to land use, for example, should be taken into account.
- multifunctional: As far as possible, measures should be designed to be multifunctional and address the functions of water for both people and ecosystems. They should strive to achieve additional environmental, health, social and economic benefits.
- socially balanced and participatory: Unintended ecological, social, health and economic consequences should be avoided by pursuing systemic and transdisciplinary approaches. Participatory planning is an important building block.
Implement EU water law more consistently
EU water law is advanced; however, its implementation and enforcement are inadequate. Violations of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) are not sufficiently penalized. Green water, which is relevant for climate adaptation and plant growth, is not covered by the WFD as a protected resource. Similarly, the requirements of water-body protection have hitherto not been sufficiently integrated into other policy areas. Well-established, climate-resilient water management can advance the implementation of EU water law and thus reduce the deficits in implementation and enforcement in the water sector.
The EU Commission will set priorities for the implementation of its new Water Resilience Strategy in a dialogue with the member states. In addition, it should issue a Communication explaining how the guiding principle of climate-resilient water management proposed here can be integrated into the implementation of the WFD. The EU Commission should state that water authorities and self-organized associations can remedy the inadequate implementation of the WFD by implementing climate-resilient water management – and explain how this can be done. Self-organized water management in the member states can lead to faster implementation and a more efficient enforcement of water law. Experts in various disciplines and actors working in the field provide important input for planning decisions. Participation processes play a central role in the provision of water-critical and water-sensitive infrastructure, particularly in the public sector.
According to the EU Commission, there is currently a funding gap of at least 23 billion euros per year for the implementation of existing water legislation. In order to reduce this deficit, the European Investment Bank is to provide a total of 15 billion euros by 2027 for the implementation of the goals and measures relating to water resilience. In particular, access to water, pollution monitoring and the resilience and competitiveness of the water sector in the EU are to be supported. Although this additional financial framework is to be welcomed, it will need to be significantly expanded in scope and extended in its duration in view of the challenges faced and their high level of urgency, since only a few measures will have an immediate impact.
Cross-sector approach has advantages
To achieve a comprehensive protection of water – whether in rivers, lakes and groundwater (blue water) or stored in the soil (green water) – it is necessary to embed climate-resilient water management both in biodiversity concepts and in the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and industrial policy, e.g. in the Clean Industrial Deal. This has multiple benefits for implementation and creates synergies in the financing of measures.
A climate-resilient approach to the landscape-water and water balance is crucial to achieving cross-sectoral goals. Financial resources could be mobilized from the CAP to promote climate-resilient water management and, at the same time, achieve CAP targets. Farmers should simultaneously be seen as green-water caretakers and promoted in this role.
EU biodiversity policy can also be linked with water policy. For example, the Water Resilience Strategy provides for the integration of water resilience into the national implementation plans of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation. Green water should also be included here to flesh out the nature-based solutions already mentioned by the EU Commission.
The availability of water is essential for the implementation of the Clean Industrial Deal. Climate-resilient water management should be integrated into these plans and taken into account in the financing mechanisms, which are yet to be developed. It is important to sensitize actors in industry to climate-resilient water management. The liberalization and privatization of water supplies involves risks and should be subject to critical scrutiny. To ensure a safe public water supply, the WBGU sees states as guardians of the availability and quality of water.
Develop a common EU foreign policy on water
In addition to the EU Commission's proposals, a common European foreign policy on water should be pursued that declares climate-resilient water management to be its guiding principle and incorporates it into future UN water conferences. In this way, the EU could provide a boost for global climate resilience in the water sector. The UN Water Conferences in 2026 and 2028 will open up windows of opportunity for coordinating global long-term water governance.
The development of an International Water Strategy should begin with a soft law process. Existing and future water conventions on the protection and management of water should also apply to green water; quantifiable targets and reporting obligations for both green and blue water should also be defined. Coordination with negotiation processes under international conventions (such as UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD or the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands) should be ensured. Finally, the WBGU recommends a Water Mapping Initiative in order to detect impending regional water emergencies with a planetary dimension at an early stage, and to introduce corresponding information into decision-making processes. The Initiative should consist of a science platform and a panel of experts.
Future scenario for a coherent water policy
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