Access to clean water in focus as IVL expands internationally

Access to clean water and sustainable sanitation solutions are in focus as IVL strengthens its international operations. About 20 experts currently working with water, sanitation, and hygiene at the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) are transferring to IVL through an acquisition.

With climate change, urbanisation and rapid industrialisation, water shortages and issues such as wastewater management and sanitation are expected to become even more relevant in the future. Solutions are needed for more circular water management and to increase countries' resilience and crisis preparedness.

“Access to clean water and solutions to enable good hygiene are becoming increasingly challenging in more regions of the world, often due to climate impacts or geopolitical unrest. We need to scale up international efforts to meet this need. It is therefore very positive that we can become stronger in these important areas and continue the work that the SIWI-WASH team is doing today”, says John Rune Nielsen, CEO of IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

The experts now starting at IVL work in the part called SIWI-WASH with water and sanitation governance, both nationally and internationally, and have experience of working in over 100 countries. In 2023 alone, they were active in 44 countries spread over all continents. In addition to employees in Stockholm, staff-members are located in France and Spain, as well as local representative offices in Amman and Bogota.

“This gives us the opportunity to broaden our international activities in the water sector, which is one of IVL's areas of strength, and where SIWI-WASH complements us in water, sanitation, and hygiene. We also see that our expertise in climate, waste and energy can provide greater benefit through a valuable local presence in additional locations,” says Anna Söderholm, Executive Vice President of IVL and Head of International Operations.

IVL's expertise in the field of water ranges from technology and solutions in water treatment to blue economy and blue-green solutions in cities. Internationally, IVL already has an office in Mumbai, India, where many of its activities and projects focus on water treatment and wastewater management. An important part of the future will be research and innovation to develop sustainable and practical solutions that can contribute to more circular water management.

“We at SIWI-WASH are pleased to join IVL. With our long-standing international expertise in the governance of WASH, particularly in the Global South, and our regional offices, we complement IVL's existing operations. Together, we will be able to develop better integrated support to countries and partners in both water and climate-related issues, says Alejandro Jiménez”, Director of SIWI-WASH.

The Stockholm International Water Institute, SIWI, is a primarily mission-funded non-profit foundation that works with global water issues. SIWI was established by the government in 2008. As part of an ongoing reorganization, SIWI has sought a new domicile for parts of international operations. This has led to IVL now acquiring the part called SIWI-WASH, where WASH stands for "Water, Sanitation and Hygiene".

For more information, please contact:
John Rune Nielsen, CEO of IVL, johnrune.nielsen@ivl.se, +46 (0)70-594 83 43
Anna Söderholm, Executive Vice President of IVL, anna.soderholm@ivl.se, +46 (0)73-078 96 53
Caroline Andersson, Acting ED, SIWI, caroline.andersson@siwi.org, +46 (0)76-555 84 25
Alejandro Jiménez, Director SIWI-WASH, alejandro.jimenez@siwi.org, +46 (0)7-20 50 60 41