Sep 10 – CEO Water Mandate Convenes Special Session in Stockholm

(Stockholm, 9 September) – The UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate today convened a public-information conference during World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden – an event that drew approximately 100 conference attendees from the private sector, government, civil society, and other interests.

The event – co-convened by the CEO Water Mandate and the Pacific Institute, which serves as the operational and technical arm of the initiative – was the latest in an on-going series of public-information sessions designed to keep stakeholders and the general public informed with respect to key developments related to the initiative.

“Given the rising importance of water issues on the global agenda, as well as the increasing profile of the CEO Water Mandate, we feel it is important to keep stakeholders and the general public regularly informed on key developments”, said Gavin Power, Deputy Director of the UN Global Compact and Head of the CEO Water Mandate.

At the opening of the special event, Mr. Power was joined by Mr. Jason Morrison, Program Director of the Pacific Institute, and Mr. Stuart Orr, Freshwater Manager of WWF-International, a project partner on the CEO Water Mandate’s public policy work program.

The event featured two panels, one composed of corporate endorsers of the CEO Water Mandate, and the second featuring non-business stakeholders. The corporate representatives included Ms Lisa Manley of The Coca-Cola Company; Mr. Henrik Lampa of Hennes & Mauritz; and Mr. John Temple of Unilever. The stakeholder panel included Ms. Brooke Barton of Ceres; Mr. Guido Sonnemann of UNEP; and Mr. Matthew Wenban-Smith of the Alliance for Water Stewardship.

Among the updates shared:

  • The CEO Water Mandate has grown into an initiative of 70 corporate endorsers representing a range of diverse sectors and geographies. Numerous civil society organizations, public authorities, and other stakeholders are also actively engaged.
  • The Transparency Policy, requiring that endorsers report annually on their implementation efforts, has been fully implemented with companies developing and posting “Communications on Progress-Water”, and those that are delinquent being marked as “non-communicating” (and at risk of being delisted) on the public database.
  • The CEO Water Mandate is actively advancing its three workstreams, which include best practices related to water disclosure; corporate approaches in relation to water & human rights; and water & public policy.
  • The CEO Water Mandate will hold its sixth working conference in Cape Town, South Africa, on 15-17 November, during which the final Guide to Responsible Corporate Engagement in Water Public Policy will be released.
  • In partnership with United Nations Environment Programme, the CEO Water Mandate will continue to develop its project in the area of corporate water accounting.

“The CEO Water Mandate is pursuing an extremely active program of workstreams and special initiatives, all designed to advance corporate water stewardship”, said Mr. Power. “The global crisis in water and sanitation demands action from all actors if we are to realize healthy and sustainable societies and achieve the Millennium Development Goals”.

Contact

Gavin Power
UN Global Compact
powerg@un.org
Office: 212.963.4681
Mobile: 917.679.8144

Jason Morrison
Pacific Institute
jmorrison@pacinst.org
Office: 510.251.1600 x107
Mobile: 415.342.8276

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CEO Water Mandate Secretariat
The CEO Water Mandate is a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General and the UN Global Compact, implemented in partnership with the Pacific Institute. These key partners work together as the CEO Water Mandate Secretariat. The Mandate Secretariat supports the initiative’s mission in many ways, including: 1) developing research, guidance, and tools that advance corporate water stewardship; 2) convening multi-stakeholder events to identify, explore, and solve key water challenges; 3) facilitating meaningful collective action to improve conditions in at-risk river basins.