UN Global Compact | Pacific Institute | GPE – October 17, 2017:
Water is becoming increasingly more important to any company’s bottom line.
Originally published April 2017: In response, a growing number have been expanding their efforts to understand and mitigate water risks, and to realize opportunities via improved water management and corporate stewardship. However, the risks faced by individual water users are for the most part created by shared water challenges in the basins in which they operate.
Furthermore, various studies are recognizing that earth’s planetary boundaries need to be reflected in company and policy aims. Because of this, companies are increasingly engaging with governments and other local stakeholders within their respective basins to address these shared challenges. Despite these efforts, evidence suggests that water-related impacts on communities, ecosystems, and the economy are on the rise.
With a few exceptions among leading companies, corporate water stewardship activities to date have been largely focused on operational water use efficiency and pollution reduction. In many cases, there is limited accounting for the surrounding basin context (e.g., how much water is available or the basin’s capacity to absorb pollution). As a result, water stewardship activities typically do not fully account for basins’ specific needs or address the root causes of water challenges.
Further, when companies do consider basin context, they often do not account for how their water relates to the collective needs of other companies, communities, and nature.
The engagements informing this paper indicated that alignment of targets amongst different stakeholders is critical for positive outcomes. As such, there is a growing need for a more consistent approach to selecting performance metrics and targets that allow companies to (1) more fully consider critical contextual factors, and (2) better align their efforts with others, including the public sector and other basin stakeholders when feasible and appropriate.
To read full report, in PDF format – please click here.
