EU Green Week event showcases innovative wastewater solutions for EU’s Eastern Partnership countries

As part of the EU Green Week 2026, UNIDO under the EU-funded EU4Green Recovery East programme organised a partner event on innovative solutions for energy efficiency of wastewater treatment plants, held online on 2 June.

The event brought together over 60 stakeholders from across the European Union and the EU’s Eastern Partnership countries. It explored practical solutions to modernise wastewater infrastructure while reducing environmental impacts and operational costs.

The key highlight of the event was the presentation of the new ‘EU Best Practices on Wastewater Treatment: Energy Efficiency and Sludge Valorisation Solutions catalogue’, developed under the EU4Green Recovery East programme.

The publication brings together case studies from EU Member States, showcasing proven solutions that help wastewater treatment plants reduce energy use, generate renewable energy and recover valuable resources from sewage sludge, while maintaining or improving treatment performance.

The catalogue is particularly relevant for partner countries facing the dual challenge of modernising wastewater infrastructure and managing rising energy costs under constrained public budgets. 

“The case studies demonstrate that significant improvements can often be achieved through targeted and incremental measures without necessarily requiring major infrastructure investments,” EU4Green Recovery East said in a press release.

The catalogue forms part of EU4Green Recovery East’s broader support for sustainable water and wastewater management in EU’s Eastern Partnership countries. For example, the initiative intends to carry out feasibility studies at selected wastewater treatment plants in Moldova and Ukraine, helping to identify technically and economically viable measures for process optimisation, energy efficiency, and resource recovery.

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Press release