Water Wednesday: Pushing for more disclosure
Contributor’s Note: This is an ongoing column in water sustainability, consumption and management issues. The rationale is simple: water is a more urgent priority for corporate social responsibility programs and becoming more so every day.
The Carbon Disclosure Project wants more information about the risk -- and opportunities -- that big businesses face related to the available and consumption of water.
While the concept of collection and studying data related to corporate carbon footprints is well recognized, the CDP believes there is plenty of ground to cover when it comes to collecting similar data related to water. So, it has turned to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. and Deloitte Consulting LLP for some help.
This year, CDP has requested information from more than 350 companies, which is more than the number of companies that contributed to its water disclosure report in 2010. By working together, CDP and Deloitte will share best practices related to water reporting (such as the need to look local) with CDP companies. Ultimately, it hopes to build a standard set of benchmarks.
Said William Sarni, director and practice leader of enterprise water strategy at Deloitte Consulting:
"The fact that most companies are unsure of their water footprint within their supply chain underlines the need for an enterprise water strategy. With many companies, this strategy development process reveals opportunities for new products and technologies. We are confident that this relationship with CDP will help enable us to bring water stewardship to the forefront of business strategy and drive broad-scale innovation along the way."
Past Water Wednesday posts:
- Smarter home irrigation technologies
- Smart grid gains ground with water managers
- 3 water management tips from Intel
- PepsiCo grant supports clean water in rural China
- Many businesses blind to water risks
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com