Existing Solutions

Corporate water management, water stewardship, water risk, best management practices, investors, companies, private sector

technical

Water management capacity building tool for companies with water intensive operations, supply chain or products.

The Ceres Aqua Gauge is a new framework and tool for assessing corporate water risk management. The tool is meant for both companies and investors, and provides a complete picture of current leading practice in corporate water management, as well as a roadmap for how companies can get started toward more resilient, responsible management of water issues.

The Aqua Gauge is a flexible Excel-based tool that allows a company’s water management activities to be score-carded against detailed definitions of leading practice. The tool benefits companies by giving them a resource to inform and strengthen their own water management strategies, and provides third-parties (investors and others) a methodology for assessing corporate water performance and progress.

The Aqua Gauge tool is free of charge and can is designed to be used by any large company seeking to improve its water risk management and water stewardship activities, and by investors and other third-parties seeking to evaluate companies on their responsible management of water.

The Aqua Gauge was developed by Ceres, in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Irbaris, and IRRC Institute. In addition, the Aqua Gauge framework was informed by  a 9-month consultation process with representatives from over 50 NGOs, financial institutions and companies.

Leading companies, investors and NGOs  — through interviews and written feedback — provided input on the draft versions of the framework and helped the authors identify examples of leading practice in responsible corporate water management across a range of sectors and geographies.

The Ceres Aqua Gauge was released in October 2011, and is free for use from the Ceres website (www.ceres.org/aquagauge). A wide range of companies are already using the tool for internal benchmarking, strategic planning, business case development and supplier and industry engagement.

Ceres is also developing a formal road-testing program in which participating companies will have the opportunity to share best practices, engage with the investment community on water issues and provide feedback on the evolution of the Aqua Gauge tool

How can my company responsibly manage water issues and reduce my exposure to water-related risks?

How do I know if the companies in my investment portfolio are managing effectively managing their water risks and impacts?

The Aqua Gauge tool seeks to establish a holistic and robust expectation for how modern companies should be managing water issues, from the boardroom to the factory floor to the farms in their supply chain.  By providing a cutting-edge best practices framework and practical evaluation tool, this initiative seeks to advance and accelerate responsible corporate management of water issues and empower the investment community through their investment allocation decisions to reward companies that are acting as responsible water stewards.

# of companies using the Aqua Gauge

# of companies adopting leading water management practices identified in the Aqua Gauge

# investors integrating assessment of corporate water risk and response into their equity and portfolio analysis and construction

Key audiences for this Solution:

Companies

Investors & Financial Institutions

NGOs that engage with the corporate sector — across the spectrum of advocacy to partnership

Ceres

www.ceres.org/aquagauge

Brooke Barton

barton@ceres.org