Water Stress Hurting More Than 50% of Global Companies, CDP Says

Retrieved from: Blue marble

“Water stress affects more than half of the world’s largest listed companies, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project, which urged businesses to set targets and increase board oversight to manage a shrinking resource.

“In a 185-company survey, 53 percent suffered from water scarcity, flooding, rising compliance costs, regulatory uncertainty or poor water quality in the past five years, up from 38 percent last year, the CDP said today in a report.

“The survey coincides with the start of a two-day Bloomberg New Energy Finance water forum in San Diego, aimed at policy makers and energy-industry executives as water’s role in resources planning expands. Companies face pressure to devise water-management strategies as global usage climbs and droughts from Russia to the U.S. strain supply of a finite resource.

“While it is encouraging that their awareness of the commercial risks and opportunities associated with water is improving, progress in responding to them is varied and in many cases insufficient,” CDP Chief Executive Officer Paul Simpson wrote in the report. “We need to see greater corporate accountability through more transparency, concrete targets and goals, and board level oversight of water-related issues.”

Read more: Bloomberg