# Can an effluent treatment or ZLD upgrade be financed as a green loan?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/green-loan-for-etp-or-zld-upgrade

Often, yes. The Green Loan Principles include pollution prevention and sustainable water and wastewater management. Be clear about the energy side: ZLD systems use a lot of electricity, so show the extra kWh and emissions alongside the water benefit rather than leaving them out.

## What the bank will ask

- Current water use and discharge.
- Design capacity and expected recovery.
- Electricity and steam the system will use.

## Report both sides

- Water recovered per year.
- Extra kWh and the Scope 2 emissions at 0.710 kg per kWh.
- Any heat or fuel for evaporators.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible turns invoices and bills into a dated, fingerprinted emissions record a lender can trace line by line. The lender makes its own credit decision.

- [ZLD energy and carbon per kl](https://senseible.earth/answers/zld-plant-energy-and-carbon-per-kl)
- [CETP emissions scope](https://senseible.earth/answers/cetp-effluent-emissions-which-scope)
- [Green Loan Principles](https://senseible.earth/answers/green-loan-principles-explained)

Sources: [Green Loan Principles (lma.eu.com)](https://www.lma.eu.com), [CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 21.0](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-database/?lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-23.