Significant improvement is needed in the depth and breadth of corporate reporting on water, particularly regarding water issues outside of direct business operations, according to a major study released [on 11 March 2009].
Commissioned by the United Nations Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate, the report by the Pacific Institute finds better and more expansive disclosure is critical for understanding the true risks and impacts associated with companies’ water needs.
“Many companies are disclosing important aspects of water management in their corporate social responsibility reports, but the study demonstrates that very few are conveying complete and consistent information on a range of important water issues,” said Gavin Power, Deputy Director of the U.N. Global Compact and Head of The CEO Water Mandate. “This groundbreaking report assesses current and emerging practices, and offers critical guidance for companies on next-generation water reporting.”
The newly released CEO Water Mandate report, Water Disclosure 2.0 – Assessment of Current and Emerging Practice in Corporate Water Reporting, examines and analyzes corporate reporting on water sustainability for 110 companies across 11 water-intensive sectors. The assessment tracks the six key elements addressed by the CEO Water Mandate: Direct Operations, Supply Chain and Watershed Management, Collective Action, Public Policy, Community Engagement, and Transparency.
[...] Among the most significant findings of Water Disclosure 2.0 are:
1) Corporate reporting on water needs to be expanded to include actions and impacts outside of direct operations, including information on supply chain performance, regional or local water use, and contextual information for better understanding corporate water risks and impacts.
2) Less than half of the companies assessed described their materiality assessments or their efforts to utilize stakeholder input to inform their Corporate Responsibility reporting, both key measures underpinning robust reports.
3) Water reporting was not sufficiently comprehensive or comparable, particularly with regard to a number of the “process-oriented” elements addressed in The CEO Water Mandate, including Public Policy, Supply Chain Management, and Collective Action, which were addressed by only a small percentage of companies.
[...] The CEO Water Mandate is a United Nations Global Compact initiative, launched by the U.N. Secretary-General [in 2007], and is designed to help the private sector better understand and address its impacts on and management of water resources. [E]ndorsing companies and external stakeholders have identified transparency as a key issue. [The] next phase of activity [will] begin with a compilation and analysis of current practices as a means of advancing water reporting. See the list of endorsing CEOs here.
Source: Pacific Institute, 11 Mar 2009
