Water Resilience Unit (WRU)
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A Water Resilience Unit (WRU) is a unit of account developed by Rebalance Earth to quantify the reduction in flood or drought risk that restoring a catchment delivers to a specific downstream asset or beneficiary. It allows a resilience outcome to be priced and contracted, in the way carbon credits do for emissions and biodiversity units do for habitat.
Why a new unit was needed
Biodiversity and carbon have established units of account. Resilience to flooding and drought, a material physical risk to UK infrastructure, has lacked an equivalent unit tied to the assets that depend on it. Without a unit, an outcome cannot be priced. Without a price, it cannot be contracted or financed.
What a WRU represents
A WRU measures outcomes, not activity. It is not a count of hectares restored or trees planted. It represents a modelled change in risk at a specific point in a catchment, attributed to a named beneficiary and asset.
| Unit | What it represents | Typical buyers |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon credit | One tonne of CO₂e reduced or removed | Corporates |
| Biodiversity unit (BNG) | Habitat value under the statutory biodiversity metric | Developers meeting Biodiversity Net Gain requirements |
| Water Resilience Unit (WRU) | A reduction in flood or drought risk to a specific asset | Water companies, infrastructure operators, local authorities, corporates |
How WRUs relate to Resilience Purchase Agreements
A WRU quantifies the outcome. A Resilience Purchase Agreement is the contract through which a buyer pays for it over time.
Status
The WRU methodology is in development and is being tested with prospective corporate, water company and technical partners.
Frequently asked questions
What does WRU stand for in natural infrastructure?
Water Resilience Unit: a unit of account developed by Rebalance Earth for pricing reductions in flood and drought risk delivered by restoring Nature.
How is a Water Resilience Unit different from a carbon credit or BNG unit?
Carbon credits measure emissions and BNG units measure habitat value. A WRU measures a reduction in flood or drought risk to a specific asset.
Is the WRU an established market standard?
Not yet. It is a methodology in development by Rebalance Earth.
Who developed the Water Resilience Unit?
Rebalance Earth, a UK natural infrastructure investment manager financing landscape restoration at catchment scale.
To discuss Water Resilience Units, contact us.