Water stewardship has surfaced as a key corporate sustainability issue, and Ethical Corp’s new “Unlocking the Profit in Water Savings” report suggests that best practices are also emerging.

Sustainability managers easily obtain approval for water stewardship, given water’s direct link to corporate operations, simple technical solutions and clear financial returns.

On the other hand, many water stewardship practices remain contested - such as the role of corporations in watershed management, pricing and measurement methodology.

Underpinning these concerns is the conviction that the social impact of water management is as critical as the environmental impact.

Companies that are serious about water stewardship - such as SABMiller, Unilever and Marks & Spencer are now factoring social criteria into their water management. This takes the form of support such as reliable community, access to clean water, technical irrigation assistance to small farmers, collaboration with local governments, lobbying for accurate pricing and managing indirect impacts on the local community.

Existing measurement models such as life cycle analysis (LCA) fail to acknowledge these social needs.

The WWF and the Water Footprint Network are fine-tuning a new approach. Footprinting methodology emphasises greater assessment of the local context and social concerns. Although it is a more resource-intensive method, it captures a full impact assessment including: direct and indirect use, the type of water use, location, timing, community needs, temporal and local scarcity dimensions of water.

With 99% of respondents believing that water-related concerns are going to be an increasing priority for business in the coming five to ten years, many more companies will be willing to go beyond the quick wins.

A summary of ‘Unlocking the Profit in Water Savings’ can be downloaded from www.ethicalcorp.com/water.

Contact:
Pamela Muckosy, Head of Research
Ethical Corporation
research@ethicalcorp.com
+44(0) 207 375 7230