Grafton, R.Q.Fanaian, S.Horne, J.Katic, P.Nguyen, N.-M.Ringler, C.Robin, L.Talbot-Jones, J.Wheeler, S.A.Wyrwoll, P.R.Avarado, F.Biswas, A.K.Borgomeo, E.Brouwer, R.Coombes, P.Costanza, R.Hope, R.Kompas, T.Kubiszewski, I.Manero, A.et al.2025-05-162025-05-162024Nature Sustainability, 2024; 8(1):11-212398-96292398-9629https://hdl.handle.net/2440/144565The world faces multiple water crises, including overextraction, fooding, ecosystem degradation and inequitable safe water access. Insufcient funding and inefective implementation impede progress in water access, while, in part, a misdiagnosis of the causes has prioritized some responses over others (for example, hard over soft infrastructure). We reframe the responses to mitigating the world’s water crises using a ‘beyond growth’ framing and compare it to mainstream thinking. Beyond growth is systems thinking that prioritizes the most disadvantaged. It seeks to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation by overcoming policy capture and inertia and by fostering place-based and justice-principled institutional changes.en© Springer Nature Limited 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.Environmental economics; Interdisciplinary studies; Sustainability; Water resourcesJournal article10.1038/s41893-024-01470-z724962Wheeler, S.A. [0000-0002-6073-3172]