The World Business Council for Sustainable Development is releasing a Global Water Tool, which companies can use to map their water use and assess risks relative to their global operations and supply chains.
WBCSD says that the free tool allows companies to quickly and accurately:
- Compare their water use (including staff presence, industrial use and supply chain) with validated water and sanitation availability information, both on a country and watershed basis;
- Calculate water consumption and efficiency;
- Establish relative water risks in their portfolio;
- Create key water Global Reporting Initiative indicators, inventories, risk and performance metrics;
- Enable effective communications between internal and external stakeholders on water issues.
It does not provide specific guidance on local situations, which require more in-depth, systematic analysis.
The WBCSD’s Water Working Group stewarded development of the Global Water Tool. WBCSD Member and global engineering company CH2M HILL led the tool’s development. An Advisory Board comprised of 22 WBCSD Member Companies in a wide range of industries provided oversight and pilot testing: Air Products and Chemicals, Alcan, Alcoa,
Anglo American, Borealis, ConocoPhillips, Degussa, The Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, GrupoNueva, Holcim, ITT,
Kimberly Clark, Lafarge, PepsiCo, Petro-Canada, Rio Tinto, Sanyo, Shell, Suez, Syngenta, andUnilever.
