Corporate Water Strategies & Business Value: Investment Perspectives– Event Recap & Replay

Will Sarni, CEO of both “Water Foundry” and Colorado River Basin Fund, and David Grant, Global Sustainability Director at PepsiCo, recently joined our Chief Impact Officer, Erika Karp, for a conversation on the challenges and benefits of corporate water strategies. While water has traditionally been considered central to the food/beverage industry, it has become a crucial resource across a multitude of different industries, such as IT. As water scarcity becomes a growing concern, more companies are integrating corporate water stewardship policies. The discussion also touched upon how to invest in water management and technologies that work to combat water scarcity.

Key takeaways from the discussion are highlighted below. Please also see the Resources listed at the bottom for links to other sources of information Will Sarni and David Grant cited. To access the video replay, click here.

• Corporate engagement with public sector stakeholders is vital. An example is the Water Resilience Coalition (WRC), an industry-driven initiative alongside the UN Global Compact’s Water Mandate, working toward a water-resilient future. This coalition includes AB InBev, Diageo, The Dow Chemical Company, Ecolab, Gap, Inc, Microsoft, and PVH Corp. The WRC aims to achieve a net positive on water and a water-resilient value chain by 2050.
• Two-thirds of businesses have substantial water-related risks in their value chain.
• Consumer staples face a $200 billion impact from water scarcity.
• Of corporate water usage, 80% comes from supply chain operations.
• Water scarcity poses a total of US$301 billion in business value at risk.