UN calls for greater depth in corporate reporting on water issues

A new report from the UN Global Compact CEO’s Water Mandate and the Pacific Institute has concluded that “significant improvement is needed in the depth and breadth of corporate reporting on water, particularly regarding water issues outside of direct business operations”.

The CEO Water Mandate report, Water Disclosure 2.0 - Assessment of Current and Emerging Practice in Corporate Water Reporting, examines and analyses corporate reporting on water sustainability by 110 companies across 11 water-intensive sectors. The assessment tracks the six key elements addressed by the CEO Water Mandate: Direct Operations, Supply Chain and Watershed Management, Collective Action, Public Policy, Community Engagement, and Transparency.

Mark Line, executive chairman of Two Tomorrows Group, comments: “It is widely recognised that the geo-politics of water availability and demand are as significant as those of climate change. It is perhaps not surprising that this report mirrors the debate over carbon accounting, and is pressing for greater corporate accountability over indirect effects.

“Leading reporters, not only in the water-intensive sectors, will want to track these developments carefully and integrate the latest thinking into their corporate reporting.”

Among the most significant findings of Water Disclosure 2.0 are:

• Corporate reporting on water needs to be expanded to include actions and impacts outside of direct operations, including information on supply chain performance, regional or local water use, and contextual information for better understanding corporate water risks and impacts.
• Less than half of companies assessed described their materiality assessments or their efforts to utilise stakeholder input to inform their corporate responsibility reporting - both key measures underpinning robust reports.
• Water reporting was not sufficiently comprehensive or comparable, particularly with regard to a number of the “process-oriented” elements addressed in The CEO Water Mandate, including Public Policy, Supply Chain Management, and Collective Action, which were addressed by only a small percentage of companies.

As world-leading specialists in sustainability accounting, reporting and assurance, Two Tomorrows is well placed to support a strong corporate response to these developments.