Operational efficiency and reducing water use

Operational efficiency. It’s the first and most obvious step a company should take when addressing water use. After all, unless your own house in order, how can you take a broader view of your water impact?

Moreover, water prices are likely to rise dramatically in the near future – so reductions you make now will soon translate to financial savings.

• How much could you save?
• How Pepsi has promoted efficiency to its staff throughout its operations: Tools and behaviour change
• Global variations in efficiency: What can you expect to gain in terms of savings throughout the world?
• Next steps: What should you do once your own house is in order?

• PepsiCo, Andrew Smith, Global Director of CSR
• Genencor, a Danisco division, Jeff Hogue, Director, Sustainable Development and Environmental Health and Safety
• Norwich Union, Tom Oxley, CSR Project Manager
• Moderated by: Ethical Corporation Institute, Pamela Muckosy, Research Director

Water pricing and governance: The higher cost of water - and its impact on your business

The World Business Council reports: "With population growth and economic development accelerating demand for everything, fresh water is becoming scarcer, and the full value of water is becoming increasingly apparent.”

With the WBCSD certain that growing water issues and complexity will drive up costs (UK water rates have increased by 45% in the last five years), this session will enable you to take an objective view of measuring the price of water.

• To what extent will water prices vary from country to country?
• What is the price of water likely to be?
• How and when will prices rise – and who will pay?
• Should business have a role in determining prices?
• How can you best plan for the impact of price hikes – and their impact on your business?

• Goldman Sachs, Andrew Howard, Sustainability Research Team

Beyond the factory gates: Embedded water & supplier water management

Being a good steward of water does not stop at your own premises. As a responsible business, you have to be aware of both sides of the supply chain – upstream and downstream – and be taking steps to reduce their water usage, too.

The vast majority of a water footprint is often not your direct responsibility; for example, it is in the fields where raw materials are grown, or in the washing machines of consumers who use your products

In this session we will look at how leading companies are addressing the challenge of reducing water use throughout the supply chain.

• Accurate tools and techniques to measure embedded water in your supply chain
• Getting your suppliers to change their tune: Fostering positive relations
• Changing the behaviour of your consumers: How to do it, and why

• University of Twente, Winnie Gerbens-Leenes, Professor of Water Management
• Moderated by: Ethical Corporation Institute, Pamela Muckosy, Research Director

Reusing water and water standards

Grey water – the term for waste water – sounds negative, but has the potential to make a positive impact to your bottom line.

Reusing grey water is a double-edged sword; you can accumulate huge savings… or give yourself a serious headache. The key to success is safety – you must have the processes in place to match up to water standards.

And yet, there is currently no standard on how clean water should be before it is either reused or sent back out into society.

In this session, we investigate how your company can use its grey water, and how tough any standards reused water should be.

• How to reuse your water
• Where your water can be reused
• How grey is grey?
• How clean should reused water be?

• Intel, Mark Rutherford, Environment Manager

Public policy dialogue: your role as a business and the issues to be discussed

A multitude of water issues material to business are decided by public authorities: Ownership, pricing, usage rights, to name but three.

So what is the role of business in public policy dialogue about water – and what can your business do to increase its influence?

It’s worth bearing in mind that if you include water in your public policy advocacy strategies, it will help you predict future costs, entitlements and access rights. It’s worth doing. But where do you start?

• What are the big issues when it comes to public policy?
• What is the role of business in public policy dialogue?
• How can you ensure your views are noted by the right people?

• Borealis, Sylvain Lhote, EU Affairs Director
• WWF, Stuart Orr, Senior Policy Officer Freshwater
• Moderated by: University of Berkeley, Slav Hermanowicz, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Water legislation: What should it cover?

Legislation on water use by business is, if you listen to the experts, just around the corner.

While it’s unlikely that current unrestricted access will continue, if legislation is to be implemented, what exactly should it cover?

• What’s the latest news on potential changes to the legislative framework around water
  
• Will any forthcoming legislation have an impact on your business model?
  
• Will your business have much – or any – say in any legislation that’s in the pipeline?

• Water UK, Bruce Horton, Climate Change Advisor
• Wessex Water, Dan Green, Environment and Sustainability Manager
• UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Science and Politics, University of Dundee, Dr Michael Hantke-Domas, Lecturer in Transnational Water Law

Water neutrality and offsetting: Unhelpful buzzwords or realistic - and useful - aims?

We’ve all heard of carbon neutral and carbon offsetting. And then there’s greenwash...

Are we about to the CSR dictionary, by substituting water for carbon and blue for green?
And can you really just port an idea from one topic to another?

• Is there any point in attempting to offset water?
• Is it possible to become water neutral – and is there any reason to?
• Is it fair to dismiss any attempts to offset and become neutral as simply bluewashing?

In this session you’ll hear a more about water offsetting, neutrality, and the risks and benefits of the two processes.

• Can you really offset your water use? With water such a local issue is there any reason to replenish wells in one country if you’re destroying livelihoods in another?
• Is water neutrality just a buzzword dreamt up by marketing execs? Or is it an attainable goal? And is it worth attempting to attain it?
• Are your efforts likely to be labelled as bluewasher? Is consumer awareness at such a level that this is a real risk?

• Unilever, John Temple, Research and Development Vitality Director

New technologies: Is a solution in sight?

When it comes to overcoming water scarcity, two great hopes are desalinization and filtration. But can we realistically expect new technologies to address world water shortage? And if so, how close is the science to the solution?

Equally pertinent, what about the fact that these solutions will inevitably mean greater use of energy – and carbon?

• How should we use technologies like these in a world where carbon has an ever increasing price?
• How do we balance responsible carbon stewardship with responsible water stewardship
• What about the costs of implementing new technologies like filtration?
• Timescale: How long will it be before desalinization and filtration are usable for your business?

• University of Berkeley, Slav Hermanovicz, Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Moderated by: CIWEM, Will Richardson, Vice-Chairman, Metropolitan Branch

Certification, Labelling and Communication

We have carbon labels. We have air freight labels. Do we need water labels? And if we do, what should they say?

Labelling is in vogue at the moment, but is it really any use? Does it engage your consumers? And are there better ways of communicating with them about water?

In this session, you’ll examine potential water labelling schemes, and decide whether their creation is worthwhile.

• What plans are underway to create a water footprint label?
• What other methods could you use to communicate your water strategy to consumers
• Are there risks involved in covering your products with too much information

• Waterwise, Jacob Tomkins, Executive Director
• Moderated by: CIWEM, Will Richardson, Vice-Chairman, Metropolitan Branch
  

CASE STUDY: Sasol and Watershed management

Water for growth and development - a perspective from South Africa

This session looks at water resource management for business, through the lens of Sasol's experiences in South Africa.

The session will cover watershed management in all it's forms, from the gegraphical context, to storage, inter-basin transfers, development, services, key challenges and future needs and prospects.

With a well-managed watershed strategy Sasol have created an environmentally and economically healthy watershed that benefits key stakeholders.

• An examination of Sasol's experience in watershed management in the Vaal system in South Africa
• The future of watershed management examined
• Why water resouce management will be so critical for your business

• Sasol, Martin Ginster, Environmental Advisor (Water and Cleaner Production)