Víctor Viñuales is Executive Director of Fundación Ecología y Desarrollo.

What are your expectations on the Zaragoza Conference on partnership for improving Water and Energy (W&E) efficiency and sustainability?
I hope that the meeting will be an opportunity to build confidence between the participants. Maybe in this meeting, ideas and projects will arise for the future.

Why are partnerships for improving Water and Energy (W&E) efficiency, sustainability and access to water and energy an important theme for ECODES?
ECODES has worked in water efficiency, energy efficiency and access to water and sanitation for more than 15 years.

What are some challenges and opportunities for your business in relation to the energy and water nexus?
We are the Spanish partner in the Carbon Disclosure Project; in addition we analyze extra- financial issues (environmental, social and governance) of more than 150 companies from 19 countries. We have several projects dealing with climate change. There is a strong relationship between climate change and water. Now, we are promoting water alliance in Central America; as a consequence we are building links between Latin American towns and Spanish towns. In ECODES water and energy projects go together.

Lessons that can be learnt from effective partnerships between the energy and water stakeholders on the energy-water nexus: Sharing and integrating knowledge and expertise?
Several years ago we worked on water projects and energy projects separately. But we learnt than these issues are closely linked. In addition the stakeholders are usually the same and the problems and solutions are shared.

How can this Zaragoza Conference in your opinion contribute to improving the nexus of W&E?
Maybe this Zaragoza Conference can push water participants and energy participants to work on this essential duo - energy and water – together, for the future of sustainable development in the world.