Today, more than 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity, and climate change is expected to intensify this issue dramatically. In fast-growing cities of the Global South, half of all households lack access to piped water, posing urgent risks to public health, urban resilience, and environmental sustainability.
These innovative solutions are:
By engaging local communities, designers, and authorities through co-design and co-creation, NEUTRAL4GS ensures the social acceptance, long-term sustainability, and replicability of its solutions — both in the Global South and within the European Union.
NEUTRAL4GS is more than a project: it's a platform for mutual learning, technological innovation, and environmental justice through sustainable water use.
Having a technology, or combination of technologies, developed on purpose for the Global South will ensure adequate design criteria adapted to the local reality, sustainable approaches respecting the local natural products and cultures, as well as addressing the local challenges. NEUTRAL4GS will leverage the insights offered by LCA and economic assessment to guide the development and selection of technologies that are not only of environmental impacts but also economically viable and socially responsible.
This project follows an interdisciplinary research approach and integrates expertise from fields of environmental chemistry, biochemistry and metabolomics, NBS and bioremediation, materials science, membrane technology, photocatalysis, environmental Economics, LCA & process simulation and modelling and environmental engineering. The research strategy is summarized in the following scheme:
The project started on 1 January 2025 and has a duration of 48 months. It was submitted to the call HORIZON-MSCA-2023-SE-01; Type of Action: HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-SE. The EU contribution is EUR 740,600.00 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe under grant agreement No 101182652.
