Investor group pushes water as a financial risk

Written by Adam Cadle

19/08/2022

Ceres, the not-for-profit environmental organisation, together with 64 institutional investors with nearly $10trn AuM, is asking companies to engage in sustainable water leadership.

The Valuing Water Finance Initiative is a new initiative to engage with 72 of the world’s largest corporate water users consider as a financial risk and better protect water systems.

The initiative offers guidelines available to investors while also considering the full suite of water-related issues. The Valuing Water Finance Initiative builds on a decade of Ceres’ work on the risks associated with water.

“The world’s fresh water supply is under severe stress in all regions, which poses risks not just to local communities, but also to those companies reliant upon water across their value chains. Investors have a critical role to play in helping companies assess those risks, and to respond to the opportunities ahead as we build resilience to climate change,” Anne Simpson, Ceres board member and global head of sustainability at Franklin Templeton, said.

“The Valuing Water Finance Initiative reflects investors’ fiduciary duty to generate sustainable risk adjusted returns on behalf of the millions of people who rely upon those investments for their financial security. Benjamin Franklin wisely commented that ‘when the well is dry, we know the worth of water.’ We are perilously close to that point and as fiduciaries must act.”

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