Water the New Carbon: Corporate Strategies and Water Embedding (GreenBiz)
(Feb. 3, 2009, GreenBiz)
It has become eco-chic in recent years to declare that “water will be the oil of the 21st century” — an essential and limited resource, unevenly distributed around the world, the growing shortage of which will lead to economic power for water-rich nations and poverty for the rest, possibly even resource wars between the haves and have-nots. Given that, how do water-dependent companies manage in a world where water quality and quantity become a constraint to doing business?
The question has remained largely theoretical, the basis of scenario and contingency planning for a handful of firms, with relatively few companies engaging in water strategy planning. But as the effects of climate change materialize with greater frequency, companies from California to Calcutta are taking a deeper dive into water efficiency, measuring and managing its use and finding ways to close the loop, even setting goals to become “water neutral.” In that regard, water is less the “new oil” than the new carbon.
The large beverage companies seem to be at the forefront of this wave. Anheuser-Busch announced that its company wide water use increased 2.4 percent over five years while its beverage production climbed about 2 percent. But thanks to a number of efficiency efforts, the brewer managed to reduce the amount of water used make beer, keeping its water use, well, flat. Coca-Cola is aiming for water neutrality. In 2007, the company developed an integrated water strategy focused on plant performance (water use efficiency, water quality, and wastewater treatment), watershed protection, enabling access to clean drinking water, and working to drive global awareness and action to address water challenges. Coke’s system wide goal is to return all water used in its operations back to nature. Its mantra: Reduce, recycle, and replenish.
But water efficiency is also bubbling up in other sectors. GE said it plans to cut freshwater use 20 percent, in absolute terms, through reuse efficiencies in its commercial and manufacturing processes. The company’s learnings will be passed on to its industrial, municipal, and government customers. GE issued a water reuse white paper to help communities and governments boost water recycling and reuse. IBM announced a water management research center in the Netherlands as part of its Big Green Innovations initiative. The company also issued a report outlining the concept for an educational and perhaps advocacy organization focused on establishing the value of applying advanced sensing, information technology, and modeling to water management in the U.S.
Some of the action on water taps into a wellspring of knowledge of how to measure the full water impacts of products. The notion of “embedded water” (also referred to as”virtual water”) has achieved increased attention in a handful of companies. The term refers to the amount of water used in the production and trade of food and consumer products —again, a counterpart to the notion of embedded carbon. A cup of coffee, for instance, has 140 liters (about 37 gallons) of embedded water, when you consider the amount used to grow, produce, package, and ship the beans. A hamburger contains 2,400 liters (634 gallons). Such metrics provide new opportunities to better understand, manage, and reduce water use.
Related posts:
- Bigfoot Came from the Water: Tools for Your Corporate Water Footprint, “Water Offset” Projects and Water Embedding Methods (Alexandra Alter, WallStreetJournal) (Feb. 17, 2009, The Wall Street Journal) Taking a Cue...
- Water the New Carbon: Water Neutrality, Food Shortages by 2030 and The Global Water Trading Scheme (FastCompany) (Feb. 6, 2009, Fast Company) It’s become a commonplace in...
- You Never Want to Waste a Good (Water) Crisis: IBM’s Global Innovation Outlook Report on Strategic Water — PDF (GreenBiz) (March 16, 2009, GreenBiz) This report examines the opportunities and...
- Corporate water footprinting (Nov., 2008, GreenerBuildings.com) With freshwater supplies tightening due to overuse...
- New Ceres/ Pacific Institute Report on Water Scarcity, Climate Change — Download PDF (Ceres) (Feb. 26, 2009, Ceres) Global climate change is exacerbating water...
March 16th, 2009 at 7:13 am
African businesses recognise the value of water on World Water Day
Have you heard of World Water Day before? I hadn’t, until I started working with Diageo, the premium drinks company, on their Water of Life 1 Million Challenge, which aims to deliver drinking water to one million people across Africa each year until 2015.
World Water Day is the United Nations’ official day for recognising the value of water to people’s livelihoods and sustainable development. This year, it falls on 22nd March, this Sunday, and there will be loads of activities across the world to raise awareness and funds for water and sanitation projects.
But, it will be the first time a multinational business organises events across all of its operations on World Water Day.
In total, Diageo (http://www.diageo.com) is organising about 30 events worldwide with the aim of engaging one million of their employees. Diageo’s African businesses such as Guinness Nigeria, Guinness Ghana, East African Breweries Ltd, Guinness Cameroon and brandhouse are all teaming up to raise awareness of the importance of clean and safe drinking water to communities and to raise funds for their Water of Life 1 Million Challenge. (http://www.diageo.com/NR/rdonlyres/D654A441-12EB-4BAD-8C45-F6A72D906603/0/Wateroflifeevaluation.pdf)
The events on the day include:
s Races and half marathons in Nigeria and Ghana;
s ‘Wishing Well’ water conservation games in South Africa;
s Family fun days in Cameroon; and
s Writing contests in Kenya
An estimated 400 million people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to safe drinking water and over 60% of the population lacks basic sanitation facilities. It is difficult for people who do have access to this precious resource to realise the value it holds for enriching people’s livelihoods and securing Africa’s sustainable development.
For a business to actively engage its employees and communities to promote the importance to water for Africa demonstrates the powerful benefits a multinational working as team, for a single cause, can create. Most funds raised will be channelled to local projects and Diageo’s global employee giving programme to donate water filters to schools and community centres in Uganda. (https://www.diageogivingforgood.com/)
You can support World Water Day and activities all over the world. Have a look at the different activties around the world that people are doing and join in on one that is close to you! http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/
For more information about World Water Day and Diageo’s activities, please contact cflatt@africapractice.com or
Bev Burnham at Diageo Africa – bev.burnham@diageo.com, tel: +44 7803856059
July 11th, 2011 at 8:56 pm
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