Climate change, Water usage and Corporate governance

(BY HUGO)

302 companies have been asked to report their water usage by the investor-backed Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which issued its first water-disclosure questionnaire this week.

As reported in this article from Vincent Bevins, Marcus Norton, head of CDP Water Disclosure, said that «the project is the result of investors who are concerned about three risks: physical scarcity, increased regulatory action – which can deny access or raise prices – and damage to a company's public image.»

Justification for disclosure of the water-related risks is articulated in this CDP Report as follows:

«business disclosure of water-related risk will also have a number of valuable benefits:

1. Raising businesses awareness and requiring enhanced understanding of their own issues, risks and opportunities;

2. Supporting efforts to develop standard measures and performance benchmarks;

3. Providing investors, regulators and other stakeholders with better information;

4. Raising general awareness of water-related issues; and

5. Encouraging action and dialogue.» (p.9)

Findings from the project are planned to be released between Octobre and December 2010.