Water for Business, a new guide specifically designed for businesses to help them identify water tools and initiatives most suitable for business needs and environmental sustainability was released today by WBCSD, IUCN, and SustainAbility.
The guide, which is available online, will help businesses to use water more effectively and support their efforts in adopting more sustainable solutions in partnership with other stakeholders.
The guide outlines the benefits of the different tools available, illustrates how a combination of complementary tools can best meet wide ranging needs, and helps businesses to manage the complexity of water-related challenges.
• We rely on water to grow our food, produce our goods, and generate our energy. “Business has a leading role to play in the management of natural resources, especially in the use of freshwater resources, for which there exists no substitute,” says James Dalton, Coordinator, Global Initiatives, IUCN Global Water Programme. “The Water for Business guide can support businesses to find their way in tools aimed at managing water in a more equitable and effective manner, in the interest of companies’ performance, balanced with growing population demands and healthy ecosystems.”
• Businesses need to have frameworks within which they can measure, manage and assess their impacts, especially those moving into emerging markets. “This is an essential guide for business, especially when you consider that 80 percent of the global population now lives in areas where the threat to water security is high,” says Joppe Cramwinckel, Director, World Business Council for Sustainable Development Water. “That, coupled with the spread of industrial and agricultural activity, is putting additional stress on local aquifers.”
• Water is becoming an increasingly precious resource for businesses across sectors and around the world. “Managing water effectively—both within and beyond the facility fence line—is essential to ensuring that both businesses and communities prosper long into the future,” says Jeff Erikson, Senior VP at SustainAbility. “Water for Business can help business leaders sort through the myriad of tools and resources available, and select the ones that are most useful for their individual situation."