Since its launch in 2007, the CEO Water Mandate has produced several research and guidance outputs that seeks to help businesses identify and address water-related business risks, communicate their water policies and practices to stakeholders, and contribute to the sustainable management of shared freshwater resources. Below is a list of some of these key outputs.

Corporate Water Disclosure Guidelines: Public Exposure Draft

Advances a common approach to corporate water disclosure that addresses the complexity and local nature of water resources, by 1) identifying common metrics that support harmonization and comparability over time and across companies, 2) providing guidance on how companies can assess the water topics that are the most relevant to them, 3) describing how companies can best report activities that are difficult to depict quantitatively, and 4) aligning corporate water management with disclosure so as to enable companies to understand which information is most appropriate to report and how to generate water disclosure content. (UNGC/Pacific Institute, 2012)

>> Guidelines – Full (pdf) >>Guidelines – Executive Summary (pdf)

Guide to Water-Related Collective Action

Offers good practice to help companies establish enduring relationships with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, leaders, and individuals to advance sustainable water management. Specifically, it: 1) identifies and characterizes various engagement methods and collective action models, 2) describes how companies can understand the nature of such collaborations, and 3) provides recommendations for how they can best organize and execute these actions. (UNGC/Pacific Institute, 2012)

>> Collective Action (pdf)

Bringing a Human Rights Lens to Corporate Water Stewardship: Results of Initial Research

Summarizes initial research to understand and elucidate international and national legal trends relating to the human right to water and sanitation, illustrating some of the current challenges businesses face in respecting this right, as well as the perspectives of potentially-affected communities, and lastly identifying areas of potential synergy with companies’ existing water stewardship efforts. (UNGC/Pacific Institute, 2012)

>> Human Rights report (pdf)

Water as a Casualty of Conflict: Threats to Business and Society in High-Risk Areas

Provides a framework for understanding the nature of water challenges in conflict and high-risk areas and how these, in turn, affect businesses and society. The report provides examples of impacts on business operations and anecdotal highlights of what companies are doing in response. (UNGC/Pacific Institute, 2012)

>> High-Risks Areas (pdf)

Guide to Responsible Business Engagement with Water Policy

Outlines five principles for responsible business engagement in water policy: (1) responsible engagement should be driven by a genuine interest in efficient, equitable, and sustainable water management; (2) there should be a clear division of public and private sector roles; (3) responsible engagement promotes inclusiveness and meaningful partnership; (4) business should recognize the connections between water and other policy arenas; and (5) companies must be transparent and accountable for their actions. (UNGC/Pacific Institute, 2010)

>> Water Policy Guide (pdf)

Framework for Responsible Business Engagement with Water Policy

Assists companies in responsible water policy engagement, providing core principles, strategies, and operational practices. (UNGC/Pacific Institute/WWF/Government of Germany, 2010)

>> Water Policy Framework (pdf)

The Human Right to Water: Emerging Corporate Practice and Stakeholder Expectations

In July 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized access to safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right. Two months later, the UN Human Rights Council affirmed this right by a consensus resolution. This white paper is designed to provide information that will inform both how individual companies can respect the human right to water, as well as how the Mandate itself can meaningfully contribute to business’ ability to effectively address this issue. (UNGC/Pacific Institute, 2010)

>> Water Human Rights (pdf)

Corporate Water Accounting – An Analysis of Methods and Tools for Measuring Water Use and its Impacts

A stocktaking and assessment of existing and emerging water accounting methods and tools being used in the private sector. (UNGC/UNEP/Pacific Institute, 2010)

>> Corporate Water Accounting (pdf)

The CEO Water Mandate – An initiative by business leaders in partnership with the international community

A group of leading global businesses will present the CEO Water Mandate, a strategic framework for action that covers several focus areas, ranging from supply chain and watershed management to community engagement and transparency. The framework's action recommendations include production strategies, water-utilization audits and incentive systems for water recycling, the development of a water-sustainability agenda, and inclusion of the GRI guidelines in corporate reporting. (UNGC, revised 2010)

>> The CEO Water Mandate (pdf)

Water Disclosure 2.0

This Mandate study compiles and analyzes the water-related information provided in the Corporate Responsibility (CR) reports of 110 companies representing 11 industry sectors that are either water-intensive in their operations or have significant leverage with which to influence water development, policy, or management. It focuses on two aspects of corporate water reporting: 1) the approaches and methods used for determining content and 2) the depth, breadth, and usefulness of reported content related to water.

>> Water Disclosure 2.0 (pdf)

More Mandate Research Materials