As part of the G20 Presidential Legacy Initiative, a new water investment council has been launched to drive water investments at the highest levels of global diplomacy.

The Global Outlook Council on Water Investments, launched at the inaugural Africa Water Investment Summit, held in Cape Town in August, will see the Africa Water Investment Programme scaled up into a Global Water Investment Platform.

In 2016, the High-Level Panel on Water was launched by the then United Nations (UN) secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, with 11 heads of State gathering to “rethink how the world approaches water”, President Cyril Ramaphosa said during the launch.

Following their recommendations, the African Union established the Africa Water Investment Programme and the International High-Level Panel on Water Investments for Africa.

The panel was tasked with mobilising at least $30-billion a year by 2030 to close Africa’s water investment gap.

The council is convening African and international partners together and calling on investors to heed the call to invest in water.

“The Global Outlook Council and the Global Water Investment Platform will serve as the world’s premier high-level political and investment platform on water,” Ramaphosa explained.

“It will track progress, unlock finance, report annually and align efforts across the G20, the UN, multilateral development banks and the private sector.”

Further, it will mobilise the leadership, capital and innovation required to transform water from a crisis sector into an opportunity sector.

While the world faces a deepening water crisis, this is also a moment of immense opportunity, he assured.

“We are looking forward to the alignment of the Global Outlook Council initiative with the investment theme of the 2026 UN Water Conference: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.”

The invited leaders that will work with the South African G20 Presidency as co- chairpersons in the leadership of the council include United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley; and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation co- chairperson Bill Gates.

Alternate co-chairpersons, as facilitators for effective broad engagement of the council members, include Tanzania’s former President Jakaya Kikwete and UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed.

Council members inaugurated include Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum; Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; India Prime Minister Narendra Modi; Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese; UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer; German Chancellor Friedrich Merz; Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen; Angola President and African Union chairperson João Lourenço; and Senegal President and UN 2026 Water Conference co-host Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

“The council will be supported by a group of global leaders who will serve as council champions. I wish to applaud these leaders, who have stepped forward to confront and overcome a challenge faced by billions of people across the world,” Ramaphosa continued.

The council will guide the transition from fragmented water investments to a coherent, coordinated and capitalised global effort through the Global Water Investment Platform.

“Water investment must no longer be an afterthought at climate and finance discussions. It must be at the centre of discussions. It must be financed, tracked and championed.”