This page will be updated throughout the year to give members the most up-to-date information on upcoming engagement opportunities, member meetings, and launches throughout the year. If you have any questions, please reach out to your CEO Water Mandate representative or contact ceowatermandate@unglobalcompact.org
To-Do List for Members in 2024
We encourage all members to read through this to-do list and support the delivery of CEO Water Mandate strategy.
OUR INITIATIVES
Companies that join the CEO Water Mandate commit to action on six commitment areas and to annual reporting requirements. Within the CEO Water Mandate, two initiatives allow companies to engage more deeply with specific elements of water stewardship and resilience. Endorsers of the CEO Water Mandate can join these groups to further accelerate their water action. Click here for Information on the CEO Water Mandate.
The Water Resilience Coalition (WRC) is the leadership initiative of the CEO Water Mandate and is a CEO-led collective action and leadership group elevating action on mounting water stress to the top of the global corporate agenda. WRC companies commit to achieving Net Positive Water Impact (NPWI) by 2050.
WASH4Work is a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in 2016 to mobilize business action on water access, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in workplace operations, in communities where companies operate, and across supply chains.
Forward Faster is a campaign of the United Nations Global Compact identifying 5 areas of action (including water) selected to accelerate progress across all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and are where the private sector can collectively make the biggest, fastest impact by 2030. To be validated as participants in the UN Global Compact’s Forward Faster – Water Resilience initiative, companies must join the CEO Water Mandate.
Water Resilience Coalition Leadership Committee (LC) – The Leadership Committee guides the direction of the CEO Water Mandate. CEOs and C-Suite members meet twice per year to review progress and map plans and priorities. To join the WRC LC, members must first join the WRC.
Business Leaders Open Call to Accelerate Action on Water – Launched at the 2023 Water Conference. The Open Call unites companies within your supply chain (including non-UNGC member companies) to drive water resilience in the 100 Priority Basins. Click here to Sign the Open Call.
- Create a Water Action Hub Profile: Visit the Water Action Hub and create an account for your company. The Hub connects water actors to a variety of online resources and allows users to discover possible collaboration opportunities in their area. The Hub is home to a variety of users from around the world from all industry sectors seeking to water security. Creating an account is free of charge.
- Add Basins of interest in the 100 Basins App: Go to the 100 Basins App to enter projects and basins of interest. With the launch of the 100 Priority Basins, Mandate Endorsers must have a Water Action Hub profile. Through the Hub, you’ll be able to access basin diagnostic information, collective action projects, and investment opportunities, and will be notified of basin-level projects in your identified basins of interest. Should you have questions contact Todd Player at tplayer@pacinst.org
The launch of the 100 Priority Basins has begun the process of implementing basin-level Collective Action projects and tracking Impact. The approach includes:
- Establishing the basin’s main issues and mapping key stakeholders
- Setting contextual goals
- Building a roadmap of solutions
- Implementing these solutions
- Measuring progress
If you are interested in joining a collective action, please reach out to your CEO Water Mandate representative or contact ceowatermandate@unglobalcompact.org
In accordance with the UN Global Compact, the 2023 Communication on Progress (CoP) for the Mandate is optional, but we highly encourage your company to review the 2024 Questionnaire in preparation for the 2024 reporting cycle. In 2024, the UNGC is moving toward a more data-driven and less narrative type of CoP and the CEO Water Mandate will make a similar transition in 2025. The reporting requirements for Forward Faster align with the future vision of reporting requirements for the Mandate.
The enhanced CoP enables participating companies of the UN Global Compact to:
- Measure and demonstrate progress to stakeholders and the public on the Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals in a consistent and harmonized way.
- Build credibility and brand value by showing their commitment to the Ten Principles and the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Receive insight, learn, and continuously improve performance by identifying gaps, accessing guidance, and setting sustainability goals.
- Compare performance against peers with access to one of the largest sources of free, public, and comparable corporate sustainability data.
You can use the spreadsheet here to support your data collection process with relevant team members and the CoP Data Compilation Checklist here. Use the CoP Guidebook here to get information on how to answer the questions, find calculations, and explore a glossary of key terms to help you complete the CoP questionnaire.
The WASH Self-Assessment Tool is a facility-level Excel-based tool that helps companies assess the level of WASH facilities, help identify gaps in comparison to leading international practices as well as evaluate the implementation every year. It helps companies to measure, set targets, and monitor progress based on the compliance score calculated by the tool for each criterion and thus supports decision-making regarding investment and priority action.
For more information, you can review the WASH Pledge: Guiding Principles. This publication includes a set of guiding principles that will support companies in their efforts to implement WASH at the workplace – an essential first step for businesses supporting global objectives related to drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Seeking Participants
The Mandate is always looking for speakers at conferences & major events, at peer-learning sessions, and at recruitment meetings. To view upcoming events that the Mandate will be present at, please visit Events & Webinars.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your CEO Water Mandate representative or contact ceowatermandate@unglobalcompact.org
Basin Champions are C-Suite representatives from WRC companies that act as ambassadors and engagement leaders at the regional level.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your CEO Water Mandate representative or contact ceowatermandate@unglobalcompact.org
Description coming soon.
The corporate guidance for the Water Resilience Assessment Framework (WRAF) is seeking additional companies to pilot the guidance document which aims to develop a practical framework to support building and monitoring resilience at all levels. The framework is developed through engagement with key stakeholders, building on their existing resilience-building efforts where available and developing shared understanding where divergence occurs, so that it can be applied by all water users, water managers, and decision-makers, in all water contexts, and at all water scales.
The projects key objectives:
- Develop a globally accepted, comprehensive generic framework (WRAF) to support building resilience and monitoring efforts at all levels for all stakeholders, including ecosystems and vulnerable communities;
- Develop sector-specific guidance documents to apply the WRAF for key sectors tailored to align and meet unique contexts e.g., corporates, utilities, basin managers, planners, and authorities, etc.
- Develop supporting materials such as resilience indicators for the selected sectors, Resilience scoring tools, etc.
If you’d like to discuss in more detail how you and your organization can get involved or if you’d like to inquire about piloting this leading-edge tool at your company, please reach out to project coordinator Dr. Ashok Chapagain akchapagain@pacinst.org
Description coming soon.
2024 Launches
Open to: WASH4Work Members, CEO Water Mandate Members, Partners
Dates: World Water Day: March 2024
Venue: TBD
Time: TBD
Description: To prepare businesses for new mandatory sustainability reporting laws, increasing pressure to provide more disclosure on businesses’ exposure to risks due to lack of access to WASH, and the actions businesses are taking to mitigate these risks, WASH4Work has initiated a project to develop a standardized accounting framework for WASH benefits and financial ROI to be launched at the UN Water Conference in March 2023.
The framework aims to enable businesses to seamlessly embed WASH benefit accounting into their overall corporate water stewardship accounting and reporting. A standardized WASH benefits accounting framework will align with the current industry-standard volumetric water benefits accounting method (VWBA).
Open to: All Mandate Endorsers + WRC + Partners + Stakeholders
Dates: TBD April & at the United Nations General Assembly
Venue: Virtual webinar & In-person and recorded (TBD)
Time – TBD
Description: Net Positive Water Impact (NPWI) began as an idea at the creation of the WRC. Since then guidance has been drafted to outline the requirements to attain NPWI. Numerous WRC companies have piloted the guidance and framework. In the April session, you’ll hear an update on the guidance, reflections directly from piloting companies, a summary of the feedback and the next steps.
At UNGA the final version of the NPWI guidance will be launched.
Open To: Everyone
Dates: October 2024
Venue: Virtual
Time: TBD
Net Positive Water Impact (NPWI) is a vision for how a water user interacts with a watershed, its ecosystem, and its communities, contributes toward reducing water stress in its three dimensions – availability, quality, and accessibility, and ensures the water user’s contributions exceed their impacts on water stress within the basin. Achieving NPWI will reduce risk and build long-term water resilience. 100 Priority Basins.
The Water Action Hub connects water actors to a variety of online resources, allows users to discover possible collaboration opportunities in their area, and has added several new features to support the 100 Priority Basins work and we will hold an interactive demonstration to highlight these new elements.
CEO Water Mandate Endorsers Meetings
The CEO Water Mandate seeks to mobilize a critical mass of business leaders to address global water challenges through corporate water stewardship in partnership with the United Nations, governments, civil society, and other stakeholders.
Open to: All Mandate Endorsers + WRC + Forward Faster
Topic: Corporate Water Stewardship, WRAF, NPWI,
Venue: Virtual
Time: 2 Sessions – 7 am PT and 3 pm PT
Venue: Online
Description: The quarterly All CEO Water Mandate Endorsers Meeting is a one-hour session where all endorsing companies convene, and the Mandate team presents relevant updates. It’s an opportunity to actively contribute to the progress of this initiative and engage with fellow endorsers in advancing corporate water stewardship.
Open to: All Mandate Endorsers + WRC + Forward Faster
Topic: Corporate Water Stewardship, WRAF, NPWI,
Venue: Virtual
Time: 2 Sessions – 7 am PT and 3 pm PT
Venue: Online
Description: The quarterly All CEO Water Mandate Endorsers Meeting is a one-hour session where all endorsing companies convene, and the Mandate team presents relevant updates. It’s an opportunity to actively contribute to the progress of this initiative and engage with fellow endorsers in advancing corporate water stewardship.
Open to: All Mandate Endorsers + WRC + Forward Faster
Topic: Corporate Water Stewardship, WRAF, NPWI,
Date: September – United Nations General Assembly
Venue: Hybrid – New York, USA
Description: The quarterly All CEO Water Mandate Endorsers Meeting is a one-hour session where all endorsing companies convene, and the Mandate team presents relevant updates. It’s an opportunity to actively contribute to the progress of this initiative and engage with fellow endorsers in advancing corporate water stewardship.
Water Resilience Coalition Member Meetings
The Water Resilience Coalition (WRC) is a CEO-led collective action and leadership group elevating action on mounting water stress to the top of the global corporate agenda. Members commit to an elevated 2050 ambition.
Open to: WRC Members
Topic: Collective Action, Standardize Data, and Measure Impact.
Date: Monthly – 1ST Thursday (February – 2nd Thursday) (July – 1st Tuesday)
Venue: Virtual
Time: 2 Sessions – 8 am PT and 3 pm PT
Description: The Collective Action & Metrics Group brings together companies in the same basin that support proven solutions to foster water resilience at scale. Through consistent, accessible data and continual monitoring, the group aids in prioritizing actions and evaluating results.
Open to: WRC Members
Topic: Multiplying Impact via Innovation, Investment in Water
Date: Monthly – 3rd Thursday (March & December – 2nd Thursday) (May – 4th Thursday)
Venue: Virtual
Time: 2 Sessions – 8 am PT and 3 pm PT
Description: The Communication and Engagement Working Group meets monthly to explore ways to unlock transformative advances through diverse collaboration with leading partners. Additionally, the group discusses how ensuring consistent financial returns can harness the power of private capital for building water resilience.
Open to: WRC Leadership Committee Members
Topic: Collective Action, WRC Investment Portfolio, NPWI
Date: January 25th, March 21st, May 16th, July 11th, October 21st, November 22nd
Venue: Virtual
Time: 2 Sessions – 8 am PT and 3 pm PT
Description: The Leadership Circle members play a vital role in shaping the strategic vision of the coalition and monitoring progress toward the 2030 WRC goals. Members of the working group meet bi-monthly to address shared barriers and opportunities.
Open to: CEOs and C-Suite of WRC Leadership Committee companies and additional CEOs/C-Suite by invitation
Dates: September 23 in New York, USA
Venue: In-person with potential for a hybrid option
Description: This event convenes CEOs and C-Suite representatives for the WRC Leadership Committee member companies. The Leadership Circle members play a vital role in shaping the strategic vision of the coalition and monitoring progress toward the 2030 & 2050 WRC goals.
Open to: CEOs and C-Suite of all WRC member companies and additional CEOs/C-Suite by invitation
Dates: September 23 in New York, USA
Venue: In-person with potential for a hybrid option
Description: This event convenes CEOs and C-Suite representatives of WRC companies and other guests to present progress toward the 2030 & 2050 WRC goals. These meetings present opportunities for peer-to-peer connections and CEOs/C-Suite to lead, including committing their company as a basin champion.
WASH4Work All Member Meeting
WASH4Work is a multi-stakeholder initiative launched in 2016 to mobilize business action on water access, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in workplace operations, in communities where companies operate, and across supply chains.
Description coming soon.
Open to: WASH4Work Members
Dates: Quarterly meetings
Venue: Virtual
Description: The business case for investing in WASH access is getting stronger. While the past few years have demonstrated a need for safely managed sanitation, hygiene, and water supply to reduce exposure to harmful diseases such as COVID-19, a remaining risk to WASH access is climate change. Climate change directly affects the quality and quantity of water supplies and impacts the sustainability of WASH behaviors, especially for the most vulnerable. To ensure the continued success of our communities, businesses, and supply chains – the impact of climate change on access to WASH must be fully understood. Going forward we join global and local stakeholders in developing and applying a climate-resilient WASH framework to our water, sanitation, and hygiene access programs and investments.
Outlook for 2023
- Continue to promote corporate support for the business declaration on climate-resilient WASH.
- Develop guidance for businesses on the implementation of climate-resilient WASH framework considerations in WASH programs and investments in collaboration with global and local WASH stakeholders.
Open to: WASH4Work Members
Date/ Time: Quarterly
Venue: Virtual
Description: The WASH benefit accounting framework aims to:
- Strengthen the business case for investing in WASH; to go beyond beneficiary counting to a standardized framework and guidance for identifying and accounting for the broader impacts, outcomes, and benefits of investing in WASH such as social, environmental, economic, health, well-being, and resilience.
- Make more concrete and science-based linkages between the benefits of WASH access and water quality, quantity, replenishment and resilience, and corporate water stewardship goals.
- Embed into the framework is the integrated, systems-level approach of climate-resilient WASH.
- Provide guidance for businesses on the use and implementation of the standardized accounting framework
Open to: WASH4Work Members
Dates: Quarterly meetings
Venue: Virtual
Description: The working group aims to:
- Define leading practices on how to implement WASH actions across supply chains via the WASH Pledge mechanism
- Share learnings on how to engage suppliers via the WASH Pledge mechanism
- Develop support materials for suppliers’ WASH Pledge implementation journey.