Innovating for Impact: Sanepar’s Path to a Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Future

By Roberta Miguel Kiska Filippini, Gustavo Rafael Collere Possetti and Anatalicio Risden Junior, Sanepar

Problem

Sanepar is responsible for providing potable water to over 11 million people while balancing efficiency and affordability through fair tariffs, despite climate uncertainties. The utility’s operations are supported by extensive infrastructure serving a total of 3,448,897 connections through a pipeline network stretching 61,396 kilometres. In 2023, it produced over 811 million m³ of treated water, with losses of 217.56 liters per connection daily. It also treated nearly 420 million m³ of wastewater through 265 treatment plants, serving 2.5 million connections. Additionally, the company serves 2,517,885 wastewater connections through sewers that extend to about 42,156 kilometres.

Amidst climate uncertainties, Sanepar must expand its services to achieve universal sanitation, especially in smaller municipalities, while complying with increasingly legal and stringent socio-environmental standards aligned with the 2030 Agenda. With over 80% of the organisation’s direct greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) resulting from wastewater treatment, the key challenge is to expand service capacity and enhance operational efficiency through constructing new facilities and upgrading existing systems, while simultaneously reducing emissions.

Another challenge lies in operating and maintaining various facilities and infrastructure to provide resilient services. As a publicly traded mixed-capital company operating in a regulated market, Sanepar faces the complexity that formal regulatory frameworks in Brazil still often do not fully integrate climate considerations. Although the company has developed robust infrastructure over several decades, it was designed under different boundary conditions, such as rainfall regimes. Recent extreme events, including the 2020-2021 water crisis in Paraná State, have continuously altered the operational context, making accurate forecasting and preparedness increasingly difficult. Addressing these challenges requires Sanepar to engage in inter-institutional coordination, adopt forward-looking planning, and foster innovation.

Solution

Adapting to climate change

To ensure a reliable water supply, the company employs several comprehensive approaches. One such is the development of a roadmap for a comprehensive Strategic Plan for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation based on Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) methodology. Within this plan, new infrastructure projects are designed thoroughly to account for extreme weather events like droughts and floods, enhancing system resilience and adaptation. Sanepar is committed to safeguarding and conserving the areas upstream of water intake points located in their supply source basins. This is crucial as human activities such as unauthorised settlements, discharge of untreated wastewater, lack of riparian forest preservation, and improper agricultural and livestock management directly impact water quality and quantity.

Additionally, regional analysis is conducted by the company to assess the potential impacts of climate change on temperature, precipitation, and water flow. These assessments are used to develop new indicators and metrics for Sanepar’s projects. During the extreme water crisis above reported, Sanepar implements actions such as cloud seeding to induce rain, integration of water systems (including the exploration of new sources) and engages in campaigns to encourage the population to reduce their water consumption by 20%. There is also active environmental and hydrometeorological monitoring of forecasts/alerts in watersheds (Infohydro platform) implemented under the Iguaçu Water Reserve project. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are not left out when it comes to adaptation measures. About 150 km of NbS actions have been implemented to promote biodiversity corridors and natural water reservoirs, which not only enable an alternative supply during water scarcity periods but also reduce geoenvironmental vulnerability of the region (fewer floods).

Sanepar strives to minimise interruptions to water service; however, planned outages may occur from essential maintenance, system upgrades, or during extreme drought conditions when water rationing is deemed necessary. The company’s effectiveness in maintaining a reliable water supply is rigorously evaluated using key performance indicators such as the “Interruption Index Exceeding 4 Hours in Water Supply (External Customer)” and the “Interruption Index Exceeding 24 Hours in Water Supply (External Customer). In 2023, there were no interruptions exceeding 24 hours, and there was a total of 5,602 interruptions exceeding 4 hours.

Loss control and reduction programmes are other strategies the company employs to adapt to the changing climate. Through the implementation of a rigorous loss control and reduction program, the company can minimise water loss and enhance operational efficiency. They employ a range of operational diagnostic tools to monitor and optimise their systems, enabling proactive decision-making. that encompasses: a) Water process mapping and regulatory compliance: Sanepar meticulously maps the water treatment process and adheres to all applicable regulations; b) Five-year investment planning: Sanepar strategically plans investments in five-year cycles to ensure the long-term sustainability of its infrastructure; c) Design studies and master plans: Sanepar conducts thorough design studies and develops comprehensive master plans to guide its infrastructure development; d) Operational diagnostic tools: Sanepar utilises a range of operational diagnostic tools to monitor and optimise its systems, enabling proactive decision-making; e) Loss control and reduction program: Sanepar implements a rigorous loss control and reduction program to minimise water loss and enhance operational efficiency; f) Interruptions: Sanepar strives to minimise interruptions to water service.

Additionally, Sanepar is committed to achieving universal access to environmental sanitation services in a sustainable and resilient by 2030, targeting 99% of the urban population with access to drinking water (has already reached 100%) and 90% with wastewater coverage (in 2023, 80.7% collected and 100% treated). To achieve this, the company plans to invest over US$2.2 billion in initiatives emphasising innovation and operational efficiency. Key actions will include sanitation for all, considering new technologies and business models, circular economy approaches, low carbon emission concept and promoting social-environmental awareness for water conservation and climate adaptation. To meet the set targets for 2030, Sanepar adopted transformative strategies such as:

a) Partnerships: Collaboration with national and international alliances for research, innovation and new business with science and technological institutions, startups, development agencies, multilateral banks and others, including long-term public-private partnerships (PPPs) for sanitation services.

b) Sustainable financing: Since 2022, all the money raised by Sanepar in the capital market has been receiving a green or blue stamp, as well as the Company’s investments are in line with the sustainable bonds’ guidelines.

c) Water Loss Reduction: Through its Corporate Water Loss Reduction Programme, Sanepar has successfully reduced water losses by more than 10 litres per connection per day between 2019 and 2023, with a continuing downward trend. They have also scaled the implementation of the smart system to detect water loss based on the Ada platform (developed by the Brazilian startup Stattus4), hydrophones (provided by the Brazilian startup Radioforce), and satellite technology (from the Israeli company Asterra).

d) Energy Efficiency and Digitalisation: Sanepar has accelerated the digitisation of the water and wastewater process using artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, digital twin, future demand simulation and water system optimisation to reduce energy consumption (e.g. Scubic, Portuguese startup) and migration to the free energy market; and,

e) Water Reuse: Conducting feasibility studies for industrial purposes with the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA).

Figure 1 – Piraquara I reservoir: water resilience for people

Figure 2 – Cloud seeding to induce rain during the worst water crisis in Paraná State

These efforts aim to ensure Sanepar’s environmental, social, and financial sustainability while advancing its ambitious 2030 goals.

Mitigation actions

The company’s dedication to sustainability has been evident since 2007 through their continuous measuring, reporting and verifying GHG emissions, allowing them to keep refining their methodology and aligning with best practices. Sanepar has already implemented some mitigation actions aligned with innovation, energy efficiency and circular economy concepts. One of such actions is undertaking a Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI), which adheres to the rigorous standards of the Brazilian GHG Protocol Program. This report provides an in-depth analysis of Sanepar’s GHGI for 2023, highlighting the company’s progress in mitigating its environmental impact. Sanepar’s GHGI methodology undergoes continuous refinement to ensure accuracy and alignment with industry’s best practices.

In 2023, Sanepar adopted the IPCC 2019 guidelines and revised other assumptions to align with the ABES congress paper, ensuring sectoral consistency. In 2023, scope 1 emissions (E1) amounted to 915,761 tCO2e and 66,792 tCO2e biogenic. A large part of these emissions is associated with wastewater treatment, because Sanepar has the largest park of anaerobic reactors (UASB) in the world for domestic wastewater treatment in full scale (more than 200 WWTP). Scope 2 (E2) emissions totaled 30,339 tCO2e, while scope 3 emissions reached 78,615 tCO2e and 21,704 tCO2e biogenic. The total emissions intensity indicator (E1+E2) per number of households served with wastewater treatment was 278.72 kgCO2e/household/year, and the total emissions indicator (E1+E2) per volume of treated wastewater plus produced water was 0.768 kgCO2e/m3/year. The energy acquired by Sanepar comes from the National Interconnected System, which in 2023 had a low emission factor. Self-produced energy amounted to approximately 0.0329% of the acquired energy. To expand energy efficiency, two lots in the free energy market were auctioned in 2023 to supply 887 of our consumer units. The company’s electricity consumption has progressively increased due to the progressive increase in the volumes of water produced and distributed. The energy intensity in the wastewater process increased and may be linked to the increase in aerated processes in effluent treatment, which tends to require more energy than aerobic processes.

Committed to energy efficiency and the reduction of socio-environmental impacts, in addition to the constant focus on process innovation and the adoption of new technologies and business models, the company installed a high-tech co-digestion plant at Belém WWTP, which produces renewable energy from the simultaneous treatment of wastewater sludge and organic matter from large generators. Since 2022, the plant has been generating energy permanently from biogas transformation. The installed capacity for electricity generation is 2.8 MW. In 2023, a sludge dryer was also put into operation at Atuba Sul WWTP. This system uses biogas and dried sludge generated in the treatment process, as well as wood chips, to dry the sludge. The dryer has a capacity of 5 tons of wet sludge per hour. A similar system is currently being installed at the Sul-Londrina WWTP. It is highlighted that Sanepar utilises sludge in agriculture because of research conducted since the 1990s in partnership with scientific institutions in Brazil and abroad. In the past three years, the company has allocated over 60,000 tons of sanitised sludge to farmers for fertilising various crops. Sanepar is today studying with strategic partners the possibility of producing organic and organo-mineral fertilisers and developing a new business. Regarding scope 3, an internal study is under identifying the relevant categories, considering both their financial impact on these and their significance in terms of emissions.

Sanepar reiterates its commitment to promoting GHG mitigation efforts in its sustainability policy. In this context, as part of the Strategic Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Plan, a dedicated team worked throughout 2023 to project GHG emissions based on the company’s multi-year planning. This plan foresees the expansion of sewer coverage and modification to the design of some plants, which are expected to result in about a 4% increase in emissions. Simulations of some current mitigation measures revealed that these measures are insufficient to meet the targets consistent with Brazil’s climate ambition. It is noteworthy that since Sanepar transitioned its treatment processes adopted at WWTP from anaerobic to aerobic, methane emissions (especially from diffuse emissions) have significantly reduced, but resulted in an increase in nitrous oxide emissions. Although Sanepar is currently focused on optimising methane mitigation, the increase in nitrous oxide will present a shift in their future mitigation strategy. To address these challenges, Sanepar is advancing research and innovation initiatives, some of which have already been scaled up, such as floating photovoltaic systems; hydropower generation within water and sanitation facilities; quantifying and measuring biogas; availability, composition, and factors influencing biogas production; efficient burning and odour control through enclosed flare; thermal sludge treatment and biogas energy utilisation; recovering dissolved biogas in wastewater; renewable hydrogen, biomethane and carbon dioxide production from biogas; and, SAF production from sludge.

Figure 3 – Biogas storage from anaerobic domestic sewage treatment at Atuba Sul WWTP 

Communication with citizens

Sanepar has demonstrated its commitment to sustainability by becoming a signatory to the UN Global Compact in 2019 and participated in several Global Compact Brazil Movements in 2023, including Living Wage, Mental Health in Focus, +Water, and NetZero Ambition. The company actively engages in several watershed basin committees in the State of Paraná, focusing on aligning the diverse interests from various sectors to support environmental sanitation, evaluate and develop basin plans, frameworks, charges, and granting criteria. Additionally, Sanepar contributes actively to the Integrated Urban Development Plan for Curitiba and its metropolitan region, emphasising water supply and its protection, and the integration of wastewater and stormwater drainage networks with the objective to reconcile different policies such as sanitation, water resources, environmental, land use and occupation, and other environmental planning and development actions. In partnership with the state environmental agency, Sanepar also initiated the development of management plans for the Environmental Protection Areas in Curitiba and its Metropolitan Region in 2023.

The promotion of reuse activities at national and state levels requires adherence to technical and legal safety criteria, especially within the regulated water and sanitation sector. Considering this context, Sanepar collaborated with the Government of the Paraná State, Brazil, policymakers in 2020 to establish state water reuse regulation. This effort resulted in the approval of a draft resolution that establishes criteria for the rational use of water by the State Water Resources Council on June 15, 2023. Within the federal scope, Sanepar has contributed to the development of a National Water-Reuse Resolution together with the Technical Chamber of Education, Information, Science, and Technology of the National Water Resources Council. In addition to all the practices described above, Sanepar supported the Superintendence of Science, Technology, and Higher Education in drafting and discussing the regulation of the legal framework for innovation in the State of Paraná (State Law 20,541/2021), which was approved in 2023 (State Decree 1350/2023).

Besides, Sanepar is a member of the 300 Water Leaders Initiative, coordinated by Global Water Leader Group and Global Water Intelligence. In 2024, the company received the SDG6 Champion Award at the Global Water Awards in London. Through their extensive technical and scientific partnerships consolidated in multiple countries, Sanepar not only expands its influence but also strengthens its ability to address contemporary challenges, including climate change responses.

In 2023, Sanepar promoted leadership training focused on open innovation, providing employees with capacity-building activities such as business mentoring and tools to enhance resilience, creativity and problem-solving skills. The initiative also fostered interaction with startups, as participants served as evaluators/mentors for hackathon groups and startups while contributing to research, development and innovation activities throughout the year.

To achieve its strategic objective of promoting social responsibility and providing health and sustainability for society, Sanepar has implemented a social and environmental education management department to focus on four key areas:

• Social and Environmental Intervention in Sanitation Projects managing its impact on the community and promoting society participation in discussions relating to projects it carries out.
• Protection and Conservation of Water Sources, social and environmental mobilisation and intervention actions aimed at engaging the surrounding population in impact management and water resource conservation.
• SDGs Internalisation fosters engagement of the staff and the population to achieve the goals.
• Museum Education educational projects development, focused on individuals and their interaction with society, to preserve and disseminate the memory of sanitation.

In 2023, Sanepar earned an A- rating on the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Climate Change score, demonstrating its commitment to environmental transparency and climate action. Additionally, the company is listed on the ISE (Corporate Sustainability Index) and IDivErsA (Diversity Index) of B3 (the Brazilian Stock Exchange), reflecting its strong performance in sustainability and social responsibility. Sanepar also holds an AAA credit rating from both Fitch and Moody’s, which recognises not only its solid financial standing but also its leadership in sustainability, innovation, and climate resilience.

Figure 4 – Recognised as a highlight in the 300 Water Leaders Group 

Lessons learned

• Sanepar’s commitment to becoming a climate-smart utility is driven by innovation for sustainability, ensuring resilience against climate challenges while advancing operational efficiency.
• Key lessons learned from the water crisis include cloud seeding to induce rainfall and implementing nature-based solutions, such as biodiversity corridors, to enhance water resilience.
• Digitalisation and AI have been leveraged to optimise water management, with smart systems to detect and reduce water losses as well as to promote energy efficiency.
• Sanepar embraces the circular economy, utilising sanitised sludge as agricultural fertiliser and exploring water reuse opportunities.
• The company has expanded its renewable energy initiatives, including biogas recovery from wastewater, reducing its carbon footprint.
• Strategic partnerships with the private sector, global research and innovation institutions, development agencies, multilateral banks and technology providers help Sanepar deliver sustainable, climate-adaptive solutions.
• Sanepar is committed to achieving universal access to water and sanitation by 2030, integrating innovation and sustainability across all operations and according to a Strategic Plan for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation.

Useful Links/References 

The data reported in this roadmap can be accessed on Sanepar’s investor relations website and its public and certified documents at https://ri.sanepar.com.br/en.