Dive Brief:
- Global environmental nonprofit CDP and sustainable water solutions company Ecolab have teamed up to launch a benchmark aimed at helping companies measure, compare and boost operational water performance.
- The Water Use Efficiency Index — unveiled at last month’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland — is designed to provide business leaders a clear view of their water use and efficiency across operations, how their performance compares to peers and how to improve, according to a Jan. 20 release.
- The index will draw on a database of over 10,000 annual corporate water disclosures provided by CDP — formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project — and insights offered by Ecolab through its spread of customers located across 40 industries and 170 countries, in addition to data from relevant trade organizations, the release said.
Dive Insight:
CDP and Ecolab said the index will use the combined dataset provided by both companies to establish “best in class” benchmarks. These benchmarks will emphasize the companies and industries that have the highest performance in water use efficiency on an enterprise level.
Ecolab and CDP said these insights will allow companies to compare their performance against peers and seek opportunities to improve their corporate water efficiency, according to the release. The index is also designed to help companies develop a strategy to scale their water management solutions and programs.
“Water is a critical economic input. It is integral to growth and success across industries including AI, semiconductors and manufacturing,” CDP’s CEO Sherry Madera said in the release. “As water stress intensifies, companies that understand, manage and improve their water use will be better positioned to protect margins, secure supply chains and attract capital.”
CDP and Ecolab said the initiative will begin as a pilot for the beverage and brewing segment of the food, beverage and agriculture industry. The food, beverage and agriculture industry is one of the most water-intensive sectors across the globe.
While major companies across four water-intensive industries — tech, apparel, food and beverage — were making progress on water sustainability targets, this progress was happening “unevenly and not quickly enough,” according to a recent report on corporate water stewardship practices from environmental nonprofit Ceres.
Of the 71 companies Ceres surveyed — which included Danone, LVMH, Unilever, Microsoft and PepsiCo — 20 companies experienced a decline in their water management score, compared to a previous iteration of the report. Ceres attributed marginal declines to refinements made to the benchmark methodology, and larger declines to companies being in the process of updating their water strategies, resetting targets or restructuring stewardship approaches.
