2Sustain

Water is quickly becoming a significant business growth and development risk.

In fact, after polling 150 large corporations, CDP Water Disclosure found that nearly 40 percent of responding companies had already experienced disruptions in operations, increases in expenses and other detrimental impacts related to water. Of course, government entities are also increasingly concerned with water-related disruptions, and they’re seeking viable approaches for mitigating risks, as well.

Fortunately, a new group promises to offer the kind of information needed for public and private sector decision-making regarding water risks.

Launched just last week, the Aqueduct Alliance is a consortium of leading water experts from the private and public sectors, NGOs and academia. It was founded by the World Resources Institute (WRI), Goldman Sachs and General Electric, but already the alliance has added Bloomberg, The Dow Chemical Company, Talisman Energy, and United Technologies. The Coca-Cola Company is also engaged and will be providing an extensive global database of once proprietary water risk information to support Aqueduct’s work.

From the alliance’s website: (more…)

Last week, Molson Coors Brewing Company released its 2011 online corporate responsibility report, highlighting the company’s performance in five key areas: environmental stewardship, governance and ethics, employees and community, alcohol responsibility and responsible sourcing.

Specifically with regard to environmental stewardship, Molson Coors has shown progress in several major categories, including:  (more…)

Water security has made its way onto the corporate agenda.

Virtually all (96 percent) of companies in a recent survey were able to identify whether or not they are exposed to water risk, and more than half of those that reported risks classify them as current or near-term (1-5 years).

The survey, prepared by Environmental Resource Management (ERM) and sponsored by CDP Water Disclosure, polled more than 100 of the world’s largest companies asking for information on their water use and other water-related business issues. The results show that water is already impacting business operations. For instance: (more…)

Will your company be able to operate successfully in a water-constrained world? Do you know your water footprint?

Those are questions you need to be thinking about because according to the United Nations, by 2030 almost half of the world population will live in areas facing water stress or water scarcity.  Already, less than 1% of the world’s water is easily accessible fresh water, and in the future, this valuable limited resource will be facing even more pressure from: (more…)