It’s official. Water sustainability has gone global and big businesses have to face it. No less than 99% of the Sustainability Heads surveyed in a recent Ethical Corp report consider water stewardship to be a priority in their business. But while it is clear that most companies are aware of it, are they acting on it?

John Temple, Sustainability Director at Unilever says: ‘At the World Water Forum a few weeks ago, I was shocked to hear a multinational company (to remain anonymous) stand up and ask why they should be interested in water conservation as they used no water in-house. It demonstrates the level of corporate ignorance about water use throughout extended supply chains and the implications of hidden water risks.’

So if a company isn’t directly involved in water-intensive activities, how aware is it of its own water risk?

This leads to one of the biggest challenges posed by water stewardship: accurate measurement and interpretation of a company’s water footprint. A crucial step to reduce water effectively – and save money.

Unilever has managed to reduce its water use inside the fence-line by 75% over 14 years, which is great going until you realise that this represents less than 2% of the water used in the total value-chain of our product portfolio. Our future plans are focussed on the water used in agriculture and by the end user of our products, says John Temple.

So it’s one thing to establish a water footprint, but quite another to actually reflect in it the company’s water impact across all areas of the business.

John Temple will be sharing his best practice in a session on how to prioritize measurement and action at Ethical Corporation’s upcoming Water & Business conference on 8-9th December in London.

The importance of an accurate water footprint is particularly important to investors, as shown by the $415bn Norwegian Government Fund, which is now evaluating water risk at the 1100 companies in which it invests.

Rory Sullivan, Head of Responsible Investment at Osmosis Investment Management says “companies need to give much more thought to how they communicate with investors - data on total water consumption is unlikely to convince investors that water-related risks are being properly managed”.

He will be sharing a panel on Investors’ expectations of companies’ water management alongside experts from Royal Bank of Scotland and Corazon Capital Limited.

So water represents a very real risk in financial terms. But investors are only one of the many stakeholder groups concerned with the water issue.

Companies from the consumer goods, like PepsiCo, have developed a better understanding of their responsibility in water sustainability, through their customers.

Dan Bena, Global Director of Sustainability at PepsiCo says: “Water is crucial to PepsiCo’s business, and also crucial to the communities we serve around the world. No other single thing sits at the intersection of global health, food security, gender empowerment, education, and even national security. If you can assure adequate flows of clean, safe water, then communities flourish and businesses thrive.”

He insists on the fact that water stewardship “is not just about philanthropy (…) but is also about using water wisely in our businesses, and taking simple steps to conserve water in our homes. Everyone can play a role.”

Dan Bena will be sharing a panel with WWF on why water has become critical to business.

Ethical Corporation’s Water & Business conference is taking place on 8-9th December in London.

For more information on the event, please contact Emmeline Rajasingam on the details below.

Emmeline Rajasingam
Conference Director
Ethical Corporation
emmeline.rajasingam@ethicalcorp.com
+44 (0) 207 375 7213
www.ethicalcorp.com/water2010