In early 2021, from a choice of four goals, Wren Sterling’s clients and employees voted for projects aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Goal #6 Clean Water & Sanitation to receive a donation. This donation was from Wren Sterling on behalf of clients who registered for paperless communications via our Personal Finance Portal in the period between October and December 2020.
Three projects were chosen and the donations of £20 per client went to:
- Safe Water Access in Rwanda
CO2balance works with local groups and NGOs in Rwanda to deliver clean, safe water by identifying and rehabilitating broken-down boreholes. An ongoing maintenance programme, alongside water sanitation and hygiene training, ensures a safe and reliable community water supply is maintained.
Each of the 12 micro-projects under this programme prevent 10,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions.
As well as reducing emissions and helping our climate, this project provides:
- A supply of clean safe water for communities
- Reduced incidence of waterborne diseases and diarrhoea, lifting the burden of disease on people’s livelihoods
- Less time spent collecting water (traditional sources, such as open wells and rivers, are often far away and highly seasonal)
- Less time and effort spent collecting wood to boil and sanitise water
- Reduced expenditure on wood fuel, leaving money free for other household expenses
- Reduced pressure on local wildlife and ecosystems due to reduced deforestation
- Cleaner, Safer Water in Cambodia
In Cambodia, untreated water and poor sanitation cause an estimated 10 million cases of diarrhoea and 10,000 deaths each year, mostly in children living in rural areas. To date, social enterprise Hydrologic has reached nearly two million Cambodians with its ceramic water purifiers. With a filter in their homes, families can drink safely. By no longer needing to boil water, indoor air pollution from wood burning is reduced, household fuel costs are slashed, time is saved for women and children, and Cambodia’s vulnerable forests are protected.
The project creates rural employment opportunities in filter manufacturing and distribution. Women make up 47% of Hydrologic’s staff, including 60% of top-level managers and 60% of the rural sales force. Hydrologic also works with a microfinance institution to sell filters on credit, making them affordable for more Cambodians.
The sale of Gold Standard carbon credits enables Hydrologic to continue researching and developing purifier technology and to train local producers and distributors, thus scaling up its positive impact.
- Clean water access for families in Laos
In Laos, over 80% of households must boil their water to make it safe to drink. Despite many taking this boiling precaution, preventable illness from drinking contaminated water is still a leading cause of death for children under five. But with a water filter at home, families can produce their own safe water every day.
The filters do more than just fend off thirst and illness. Without the need for boiling water, families are able to buy or collect less wood and fossil fuels, reducing smoke in the kitchen, and protecting Laos’ beautiful forests from further deforestation.
TerraClear is breaking down the barriers that make clean water access a challenge for rural communities. Creative strategies and community focused education and promotion are allowing TerraClear to change lives a few litres at a time. TerraClear is providing access to safe drinking water through the manufacture and distribution of more than 33,000 ceramic filters reaching an estimated 150,000 people in over 500 villages in Laos.
Project impacts and benefits
- 15,000 tonnes of CO2e saved annually by the project
- 20-30 litres of clean water – the average daily household consumption fully met by each filter
- 32,000 households benefiting from filter use
For every 1000 carbon credits purchased:
- $15,800 value of avoided forest degradation*
- 12 hectares of avoided forest degradation*
- 25 cases of Acute Lower Respiratory Infection (ALRI) treatment avoided*
*Figures are based on Social Return on Investment (SROI) of Nexus for Development’s model for the project’s last monitoring period (MP2, July 2016).
