Water scarcity and increasing regulation spark first CDP water-disclosure questionnaire

Over 300 of the world's largest companies have been asked to report their water usage by the investor-backed Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which issued its first water-disclosure questionnaire this week.

The CDP has succeeded in convincing many businesses to disclose greenhouse gas emissions, but is now turning to water after prodding from suppliers and shareholders.

Human population growth and the effects of climate change are expected to exacerbate water shortages worldwide.

"Water is a key investment issue," said Anne Kvam, global head of ownership strategies at Norges Bank Investment Management, a sponsor of the programme. "It is fundamental to many businesses, and it is threatened in many areas of the world."

Marcus Norton, head of CDP Water Disclosure, told Guardian Sustainable Business that the project is the result of investors who are concerned about three risks: physical scarcity, increased regulatory action – which can deny access or raise prices – and damage to a company's public image.

"Over the last few years, a number of companies have suffered from reputational issues around water, especially mining and food and beverage companies," Norton said.

The London-based CDP is distributing a questionnaire to 302 companies from the Global 500, which have been chosen from water-intensive sectors such as automotive, construction, electric utilities, food and beverage, mining, oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals.

Businesses are not required to respond, but are encouraged by a sizeable pool of investors that wishes they do so. In this case the more than 130 signatory financial institutions represent $16tn in assets under management. Companies that choose to respond have the option of making their answers available only to these investors, or to the larger public as well.

Norton said he aims for a 40% response rate in the first year. Ford, PepsiCo, and Molson Coors have already agreed to take the survey.

Collecting information about a company's footprint is difficult, because there are no unified standards and water resources are bound to specific locations, unlike carbon, which has a global impact.

"One of the goals of this programme is to help accelerate coalescence around a single standard," Norton said.

The survey asks about strategies for water management, perceived risks and opportunities, as well as quantitative questions on water accounting – which many companies may not know the answers to.

Companies will be encouraged to respond in any way they can: "We don't want companies to be penalised because they're not able to answer certain questions," said Norton.

]]>

Water scarcity and increasing regulation spark first CDP water-disclosure questionnaire

Over 300 of the world’s largest companies have been asked to report their water usage by the investor-backed Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which issued its first water-disclosure questionnaire this week.

The CDP has succeeded in convincing many businesses to disclose greenhouse gas emissions, but is now turning to water after prodding from suppliers and shareholders.

Human population growth and the effects of climate change are expected to exacerbate water shortages worldwide.

“Water is a key investment issue,” said Anne Kvam, global head of ownership strategies at Norges Bank Investment Management, a sponsor of the programme. “It is fundamental to many businesses, and it is threatened in many areas of the world.”

Marcus Norton, head of CDP Water Disclosure, told Guardian Sustainable Business that the project is the result of investors who are concerned about three risks: physical scarcity, increased regulatory action – which can deny access or raise prices – and damage to a company’s public image.

“Over the last few years, a number of companies have suffered from reputational issues around water, especially mining and food and beverage companies,” Norton said.

The London-based CDP is distributing a questionnaire to 302 companies from the Global 500, which have been chosen from water-intensive sectors such as automotive, construction, electric utilities, food and beverage, mining, oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals.

Businesses are not required to respond, but are encouraged by a sizeable pool of investors that wishes they do so. In this case the more than 130 signatory financial institutions represent $16tn in assets under management. Companies that choose to respond have the option of making their answers available only to these investors, or to the larger public as well.

Norton said he aims for a 40% response rate in the first year. Ford, PepsiCo, and Molson Coors have already agreed to take the survey.

Collecting information about a company’s footprint is difficult, because there are no unified standards and water resources are bound to specific locations, unlike carbon, which has a global impact.

“One of the goals of this programme is to help accelerate coalescence around a single standard,” Norton said.

The survey asks about strategies for water management, perceived risks and opportunities, as well as quantitative questions on water accounting – which many companies may not know the answers to.

Companies will be encouraged to respond in any way they can: “We don’t want companies to be penalised because they’re not able to answer certain questions,” said Norton.

]]> http://tappedintotheearth.com/2010/04/investors-request-companies-to-report-water-use/feed/ 0 http://tappedintotheearth.com/2010/04/severn-trent-calls-for-water-reforms-to-cut-carbon-emissions-edie-net/ http://tappedintotheearth.com/2010/04/severn-trent-calls-for-water-reforms-to-cut-carbon-emissions-edie-net/#comments Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:10:03 +0000 Pollution and Warming - Revue de presse Earth-stream.com tag:www.earth-stream.com://d1b4aa8a8635fd0725553043ea4e0540 Severn Trent boss calls for an overhaul of the water industry to help tackle its carbon footprint. …