Preface

 

 

The United Nations Environment Programme’s Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics (UNEP DTIE) commissioned this report from the Pacific Institute in its capacity as part of the CEO Water Mandate Secretariat. The report is one component of the broader UNEP Water Footprint, Neutrality, and Efficiency (WaFNE) Umbrella Project.

The CEO Water Mandate is a UN Global Compact initiative designed to help the private sector better understand and address its impacts on and management of water resources. Recognizing the urgency of the emerging global water crisis, the UN Secretary-General, in partnership with a number of international business leaders, launched the Mandate in July 2007. Endorsing CEOs acknowledge that in order to operate in a more sustainable manner, and contribute to the vision of the UN Global Compact and the realization of the Millennium Development Goals, they have a responsibility to make water resources management a priority, and to work with governments, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders to address this global water challenge.

The Pacific Institute is dedicated to protecting our natural world, encouraging sustainable development, and improving global security. Founded in 1987 and based in Oakland, California, the Institute provides independent research and policy analysis on issues at the intersection of development, environment, and security and aims to find real-world solutions to problems like water shortages, habitat destruction, global warming, and environmental injustice. The Pacific Institute conducts research, publishes reports, recommends solutions, and works with decision-makers, advocacy groups, and the public to change policy.

The Institute for Environmental Research and Education undertakes and disseminates comprehensive, fact-based research for usein the development of responsible environmental policy, programs, and decisions. The American Center for Life Cycle Assessment, the professional society for LCA in the United States, is its flagship program.

UNEP established the WaFNE Project in order to enhance water efficiency and water quality management through the refinement and pilot testing of several existing water accounting methods and supporting management tools. This project will encourage convergence of practice and compatibility among these methods. This $4 million project—established in March 2009—will be implemented over the course of three years with supporting partners including the UN Global Compact/CEO Water Mandate, Stockholm International Water Institute, Water Footprint Network, Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Economic Forum, International Water Association, National Cleaner Production Centre Network, UNESCO, and the UN-Water Secretariat. In addition to the stocktaking exercise, this WaFNE Project will:

  • Map and refine methodologies and related management tools for the water footprint and water neutrality concepts;
  • Build capacity and raise awareness among the public and private sectors in order to apply water accounting and neutrality concepts on a greater scale and with greater consistency;
  • Demonstrate the applicability of harmonized concepts in enhancing water efficiency and improving water quality in waterintensive industries and water-stressed regions.

Some of the key outputs from this project will include: methodologies and tools for water accounting, dialogue platforms at the global and local level, a capacity platform with online knowledge management and guidance materials for water accounting methods, country-level pilot testing of methods, and awareness raising activities. The pilot testing will look at the implementing of corporate water accounting methods—in possibly six countries spanning multiple continents and at least four industry sectors.

As an initial step to the WaFNE Project, UNEP has commissioned a stocktaking exercise of existing methodologies and supporting tools for corporate water accounting. The findings of this stocktaking exercise are the subject of this report.

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