The Business of Water

Collaboration trumps competition for developers of water risk and stewardship tools

The unsustainable use of water and the risks it creates is on the minds of many of the thousands of water experts from the corporate, NGO, and government worlds who convened in Stockholm this week for World Water Week. As companies increasingly view water as not just an environmental issue, but a complex driver of very real risks to their businesses, the appetite for better information on how to manage these risks and become good water stewards has grown substantially. In fact, many organizations have put tremendous effort into developing tools and methodologies and compiling the best publicly available water information so that companies can manage their water use in sustainable, efficient, and equitable ways.

Call for nominations for the 2013 Stockholm Industry Water Award by this year’s laureate

Listen to the call for 2013 nominations for the Stockholm Industry Water Award by Liese Dallbauman, PepsiCo’s Director for Water Stewardship.

This year, the Stockholm Industry Water Award was received by the global food and beverage company PepsiCo to rewarad major reductions in water consumption in its production, and extended commitment beyond the company’s own operations to help solve water challenges on a broad scale.

We need to better understand – and harmonize! – water tools for better water governance

Any company today can use different tools to identify water related risks in a given location and get different results from each of them. Yesterday’s seminar “Towards sustainability: harmonizing water tools for better water governance” convened by the WBCSD, WRI and WFN, was a first step towards addressing this situation. Indeed, coordination efforts and open communication between several organizations are needed to support private and public players in better addressing sustainable water management.

Who makes good governance? And for whom?

Receiving the 2012 Stockholm Industry Water Award in the name of PepsiCo, Sanjeev Chadha, President for Middle East and Africa, noted that if one company can make very significant contribution to water efficiency and preservation, community programs, strategic engagement and more, the potential power that thousands of corporations can unleash is limitless. More proactive, more progressive collaboration - he added - lies in the heart and minds of people. We need to genuinely want it, and do it. Together.

PepsiCo’s example supports the fact that solutions are there and best practices need to inform policy. Concepts have been proven. This was at the heart of the discussion during the business founders’ seminar today which brought together companies, policy-makers and NGOs, to explore more efficient ways of collaboration. The conclusion is that we need to collectively break down internal and external barriers that prevent us from taking existing - and demonstrated – solutions to scale. Be they political, financial, or cultural, these barriers should not be an excuse for hiding behind the walls of our silos. The business community needs to be creative and governments need to dare. Policies and planning are made under great risk and uncertainty. Rules of the game are the same for all. Trust can only be built on performance.

Just did it...together!

Close your eyes and imagine the world in 2050. 9 billion people have access to food, water, good hygiene, clean toilets, energy, health care, education, transportation, communication technology and all other essential goods and services. Ecosystem services are valued and accounted for. Sustainable solutions have been developed, after major innovations took place. Over the past decades we found solutions to produce more food with less water, respond to water’s physical and economic scarcity, all of that for a growing population and at times of financial crisis.

On the plane to Stockholm: expectations from the sky have no limits

The World Water Week will gather the international water community for the first time since Rio two months ago. My take away from Brazil was that business is now demanding action at scale, and doing so with a very clear sense of urgency. I am an optimist who believes that we are on track for that to happen. Knowledge, energy and enthusiasm that will be generated in Stockholm this week will bring us a little closer to targeted, impact driven, cross-sector collaborative action to massively improve sustainable water supply and management.

The water world gathering in Stockholm: a year on

A year that's passed is always conducive to reflections about what was achieved and where more efforts are needed. WBCSD will be present in Stockholm with the whole water team: Joppe, Anne-Léonore, Violaine, Ankit and Tatiana to participate in these debates with a very clear goal in mind - encouraging cross-sector collaboration and action at scale. And we will keep repeating it over and over again: action is urgently needed!

Download our programme for the week and meet us there from Sunday 26 August onwards.

We look forward to an intensive, fruitful and fun week!

Conclusion: water is rising rapidly on the business agenda

I cannot resist sharing some of our reflections on the World Water Week. First of all, meet the other members of the WBCSD water team, Anne-Leonore Boffi, Violaine Berger and Ankit Patel. Together we covered sessions, managed the booth, organized side events, interacted with participants, celebrated the launch of our tools, met with partner organizations and members and had some fun in the evenings when there was time left for it. Without them it would have been an impossible to have had a successful water week.

This is the last day of the World Water Week, the skies are blue, providing the participants with a warm goodbye.

Urban Water was the theme of this week, attracting several mayors from all over the world to participate in the discussions.

Being an elected city official is not an easy task and requires a lot of dedication, integrity, energy and a desire to make cities a better place for all its inhabitants, rich or poor. I could find these attributes with Jennifer Hostermann, Mayor of the City of Pleasanton USA, panelist in the Mayors Panel. If she ever decides to run for congress, convince the electorate that her increase in the water services rates was a good thing and win, the US congress will be a better place.

How to move business forward through the water, food and energy security nexus

One of the Stockholm Water Week’s unique features is the various awards it presents for outstanding performance. Tonight the Stockholm Water Prize will go to Stephen Carpenter at the beautiful Town Hall. I hope it will not rain and that we will enjoy the superb setting of this historical place.

The Junior Water Prize stimulates innovation by young people in the field of water. The 2011 winner is a young American who developed a low cost, potable method to test water quality, using mobile phones. Great stuff.