Best companies for water security revealed

CDP, the non-profit formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project, has released details of corporate water stewardship, with Asahi Group Holdings, Colgate Palmolive, Ford Motor Company and Toyota Motor Corporation included in the list of global corporations achieving an A rating for their efforts to improve water security.

The report shows that some companies are beginning to move ahead of the pack in addressing water concerns at a time when it is becoming a major issue for the World Economic Forum and a growing concern to institutional investors in terms of water-related risk, opportunity and disclosure. This year 617 institutional investors asked 1,073 of the world's largest publicly listed companies across industry sectors with high water vulnerability to disclose how they were responding to water security. The report then analyses the 405 company responses to this request (double that of last year’s report).

CDP report that there has been progress from leading companies, but that there is a gap to the rest of the market with more than half (53%) of companies failing to even conduct a comprehensive risk assessment. The oil and gas sector in particular is not meeting investor demands for transparency and action and only just under a quarter (22 per cent) of the world's largest publicly listed energy companies responded to requests from investors to account for their water management strategies.

Despite this, the majority of oil and gas companies that did respond (65%) say their business are vulnerable to substantive water risks, and almost half (43%) have had water-related challenges in the past year.

"Just as oil was to the 20th century, water is fast becoming the defining resource of the 21st century," said Cate Lamb, head of water at CDP. "Unfortunately however, unlike oil, there is no replacement for water. Companies using CDP's water programme are beginning to understand that taking a strategic view of how they manage water can enhance competitive advantage, investor appeal and business resilience."

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