{"id":183,"date":"2015-02-18T21:44:15","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T21:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disc.timberlinelabs.com\/?page_id=183"},"modified":"2015-12-30T22:08:30","modified_gmt":"2015-12-30T22:08:30","slug":"external-impacts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ceowatermandate.org\/disclosure\/develop\/detailed-disclosure\/external-impacts\/","title":{"rendered":"External Impacts"},"content":{"rendered":"

A company\u2019s water practices may harm people and ecosystems, causing risk to the company, undermining sustainable water management, and potentially impinging on human rights. Key environmental and socioeconomic conditions that can be impaired by industrial and agricultural water practices are manifested in the three components of water stress<\/a>: 1) water availability, 2) water quality, and 3) access to water and WASH services. Though companies are more likely to have impacts in water-stressed regions, an area need not be water stressed for a company to cause impacts in that location.<\/p>\n

How Corporate Actions Can Affect Basin Conditions<\/h4>\n

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\"Figure7\"<\/p>\n

Disclosure on external impacts can be quite challenging for companies due to the high costs and scientific and technical limitations associated with carrying out impact assessments. At present, there is no standardized methodology for identifying a company\u2019s water-related external impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nContent<\/th>\nScope<\/th>\nFormat<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Basic<\/b><\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • N\/A (compliance used as proxy)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
N\/A<\/td>\nN\/A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Advanced<\/b>(includes basic reporting)<\/td>\n\n
    \n
  • Impacts on water availability, water quality, and access to water resources and WASH services (including human-rights-related impacts)<\/li>\n
  • Prioritizing impacts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n
Location-specific<\/td>\nTabular; qualitative<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

BASIC<\/h4>\n

Basic disclosers are rarely able to report meaningfully on external impacts. Instead they can use compliance information discussed in detail in the Compliance subsection above as a rudimentary proxy for potential negative impact. Many water-related impacts stem from companies discharging contaminants into nearby water bodies that are used as a source of drinking water, recreation, or irrigation or that provide crucial ecosystem services or wildlife habitat. While imperfect, such compliance information should be available and reportable even for SMEs.<\/p>\n

ADVANCED<\/h4>\n

Impacts on water availability, water quality, and access to water and WASH services<\/h4>\n

Companies with advanced disclosure practices can assess the negative impacts of their direct operations both by means of quantitative methods, robust stakeholder<\/a> engagement, and basin<\/a> assessment strategies. A company also describes the methods and tools it uses to assess its external impacts. In particular, a company includes the following types of information for each impact it reports:<\/p>\n