The future of public water is public banks

The world will not meet the SDG 6 targets by 2030. This is due to a lack of government spending, but also because the private sector has not invested in the sector, despite generous support by governments to subsidize ‘blended’ finance. At the same time, the potential for public banks to provide finance for public water and sanitation has largely been ignored, by major global development agencies as well as academics. This article outlines arguments in favour of public banks financing water and sanitation and describes examples of how this can be done in a democratic, efficient, sustainable and equity-oriented manner.