Institutional investors from around the world joined Ceres launched the Valuing Water Finance Initiative, a new effort to engage 72 of the world’s biggest corporate water users and polluters to value and act on water as a financial risk and drive the necessary large-scale change to better protect water systems. The initiative is the only global investor-led initiative aimed at moving companies to respond to the global water crisis.
The Ceres Valuing Water initiative offers the most comprehensive and ambitious guidelines available to investors while also considering the full suite of water-related issues, from water availability and quality to board oversight and public policy engagement. Signatories at launch include financial institutions such as pension funds, mainstream asset owners and socially responsible investors spanning the globe
The expectations lay out clear action steps for focus companies and set the stage for investor engagement focused on collective progress:
Water quantity. Companies do not negatively impact water availability in water-scarce areas across their value chain.
Water quality. Companies do not negatively impact water quality across their value chain.
Ecosystem protection. Companies do not contribute to the conversion of natural ecosystems critical to freshwater supplies and aquatic biodiversity and actively work to restore degraded habitats that their businesses depend upon.
Access to water and sanitation. Companies contribute to the social, economic and ecological resilience of communities they interact with by contributing to achieving universal and equitable access to WASH across their value chain.
Board oversight. Corporate boards and senior management oversee water management efforts.
Public policy engagement. Companies ensure that all public policy engagement and lobbying activities are aligned with sustainable water resource management outcomes.
