Compliance

 

Compliance with water-related regulations as well as with voluntary standards or industry benchmarks may be used as a proxy for understanding a company’s approach to managing water resources. For instance, companies that experience relatively few incidents of noncompliance over time are less likely to have negative impacts on communities and ecosystems and thus less exposure to reputational risk.

Content Scope Format
Basic Companywide Tabular; quantitative
Advanced(includes basic reporting)
  • Adoption of internal and/or voluntary sustainability standards
  • Water-related regulatory compliance violations in the value chain
Value chain Narrative; qualitative

BASIC

Percent of facilities with a water-related regulatory compliance violation

Basic reporters discuss the extent to which they comply with water-related regulations (typically pertaining to water quality, but sometimes also to water quantity), providing information on the percent of facilities with any regulatorycompliance violations incurred and the total monetary amount paid in associated fines and penalties. Companies should report all violations regardless of whether they are administrative (and therefore not likely to create negative impacts). Incidents that do indeed create impacts but do not result in a regulatory violation should be reported as External Impacts.

Companies can also augment companywide compliance information by providing detailed information on their violations in tabular format, covering the following information:

  1. The company entities (e.g., subsidiaries, joint ventures) or entities in the value chain (e.g., suppliers) that face significant risks, opportunities, or impacts related to the topic The geographic or geopolitical area(s) where the topic in question is material
  2. The significant risks, opportunities, and impacts related to the topic Stakeholders for whom the topic is important
  3. The extent to which the company can influence the risks, opportunities, and impacts related to the topic
  4. Where the topic is reported (e.g., a specific page in the company’s sustainability report or on its website

ADVANCED

Adoption of internal and/or voluntary sustainability standards

Many companies strive to meet performance standards that are voluntary as a way of achieving and demonstrating good performance. Third-party voluntary standards and guidelines that may be reported on include:

Internally developed standards can pertain to a variety of water management topics, such as water use efficiency and operational management protocols. Reporting on this topic describes the nature of these standards, which entities within the business are encouraged or expected to meet them, and the extent to which those entities have achieved implementation goals.

Water-related regulatory compliance violations in the value chain

Basic reporters discuss the extent to which they comply with water-related regulations (typically pertaining to water quality, but sometimes also to water quantity), providing information on the percenWhen possible, companies can also look to provide information on the percent of suppliers with any water-related regulatory compliance violations within the reporting period. As with other value chain reporting issues, when doing so, companies should indicate the portion of suppliers from which they are able to obtain such data.d in associated fines and penalties. Companies should report all violations regardless of whether they are administrative (and therefore not likely to create negative impacts). Incidents that do indeed create impacts but do not result in a regulatory violation should be reported as External Impacts.

 

Connected Reporting

CURRENT STATE IMPLICATIONS RESPONSE
Geographic/Geopolitical Area Parameters Exceeded Causes Fines and Penalties Description of Impact Violation Resolution

“COCA-COLA HELLENIC BOTTLING CO.: 2013 INTEGRATED REPORT”

In 2013, our plant in the district of Ploiesti, just outside of Bucharest received the European Water Stewardship Gold Level certification following formal audits in 2012. Our Company was one of the first to gain certification and we have piloted further audits against this new European standard since then.

Here we offer a generic step-by-step that can help companies measure and report the specific compliance metrics described above.

BASIC

Percent of facilities with a water-related regulatory compliance violation

Compilation
  • Step 1: Identify water-related regulatory compliance violations incurred during the reporting period. Note that it may be helpful in this process to refer to the CDP Water Disclosure request, which asks companies to disclose any breaches of abstraction licenses, discharge consents or other water and wastewater related regulations. CDP’s 2014 Guidance for Responding Companies acknowledges that defining “significant” depends on the company’s own internal threshold as well as the local context. It states that “what constitutes a significant breach . . . will usually imply a major impact on the environment, community and/or business(es).”
  • Step 2: Calculate and report the percentage of total facilities that experienced a water-related regulatory compliance violation during the reporting period.
  • Step 3: Organizations may decide to provide detailed information on the most significant violations. This information may include the location in which the violation occurred, the quality parameters that were exceeded, the total monetary value paid in associated fines and penalties, and the resulting impact (optional).
  • Step 4: Obtain verification and assurance (optional).
Reporting units: Percentages (%)

ADVANCED

Adoption of internal and/or voluntary sustainability standards

Compilation
  • Step 1: Determine any internal or third-party voluntary standards the organization uses to measure and track water performance. These standards should go beyond regulatory compliance.
  • Step 2: Calculate and report the percentage of total facilities that experienced a water-related regulatory compliance violation during the reporting period.

Water-related compliance in the value chain

Compilation
  • Step 1: Collect information on water-related regulatory compliance in the value chain during the reporting period. This may include regulatory violations incurred upstream (e.g., by suppliers) or downstream (e.g., by distributors, customers or retailers) as well as any violations of internal or third-party voluntary standards to which the organization requires these parties to adhere. Value chain water compliance data must be obtained directly from relevant parties, unlike value chain water performance data which may be calculated indirectly with modeling techniques.
  • Step 2: Calculate and report this information, breaking down the data if possible to show water-related compliance in the upstream, operations and downstream phases.
  • Step 3: Obtain verification and assurance (optional).
Reporting units: Megaliters (ML); percentages (%)

BASIC

COMPLIANCE Percent of facilities with a water-related regulatory compliance violation (%)

ADVANCED

COMPLIANCE Percent of facilities with a water-related regulatory compliance violation (%)
Adoption of internal and/or voluntary standards (narrative)
Water-related compliance violations in the value chain (narrative)
Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 01 Image 02 Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 01 Image 02 Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 01 Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 01 Image 01 Image 02 Image 03 Image 01 Image 01 Image 01 Image 03 Image 01 Image 01 Image 03 Image 03 Image 01 Image 01 Image 03 Image 03
Translate »