Despite growing recognition, the disconnect between sanitation and climate change policy and climate action has resulted in sanitation priorities being poorly reflected in national climate policy frameworks. At the same time, sanitation policies often neglect relevant climate considerations, including adapting sanitation services to climate impacts and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.

Growing evidence shows that investments in climate-resilient sanitation yield multiple benefits for climate action, as also detailed in IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. Low-carbon and resilient sanitation services have been shown to contribute to building multidimensional community resilience, reducing socio-environmental vulnerability, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions through strategies such as resource recovery and reuse via biogas production, or off-site composting.

A direct consequence of inadequate incorporation of climate considerations in sanitation policies, and vice versa, is that opportunities for synergies between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 6 and 13 are missed, while sanitation initiatives receive only a minimal portion of climate finance. The resulting lack of infrastructure and resources for resilient sanitation services curtails adaptation capacity and deepens vulnerability, a point highlighted in the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report, which underscores the need for broader support to sectors vulnerable to climate impacts.

Building on previous analyses, the authors’ objective is to discuss the extent of integration between sanitation and climate change in national level policies. They provide an update on the analysis of sanitation’s inclusion in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and also cover the extent to which climate change considerations are included in sanitation plans and policies.

After describing their analysis of country policies from NDCs and where they are progressive or lacking, they highlight other examples of integration strategies and their observed benefits and provide recommendations on how climate-sanitation policy integration can be achieved in practice. In response to the growing calls for integrating sanitation and climate policy, they provide critical insights and recommendations to advance the global implementation of integrated climate-sanitation priorities. Specifically, their findings aim to support ongoing policy processes, such as the upcoming revisions of NDCs and the formulation of national adaptation plans (NAPs), as well as countries’ climate-resilient water, sanitation and health (WASH) initiatives and investments.