Water risk can affect a business even if it is not “water intensive”. A business may depend on water at its own sites, through suppliers, in the communities where it operates, or through the materials and services it buys.
Drought, floods, heatwaves, pollution, and declining ecosystem health can reduce water availability, worsen water quality, and increase competition for water. This can make it harder or more expensive to produce goods, deliver services, maintain safe workplaces, support suppliers, and operate in water-stressed places.
Vulnerabilities
What are the risks to a business's water supply?
The climate and nature pressures that can make water less available, more expensive or less safe to use.
Water is becoming a more uncertain business input. Drought can reduce supply. Flooding can contaminate water and damage infrastructure. Heatwaves can increase demand and affect water quality. Pollution and declining ecosystem health can make water harder or more expensive to treat.
Healthy rivers, wetlands, forests, and watersheds help regulate flows, filter water, and recharge supplies. When these natural systems are degraded, water systems become less reliable and businesses can face higher costs, supply disruption and growing pressure from other water users.
How exposed are water sources?
How exposed business sites, suppliers and sourcing regions are to water stress, flooding or poor water quality.
A business may be more exposed if its sites or suppliers depend on water from drought-prone rivers, overused groundwater, flood-prone catchments, or areas with weak water management.
Exposure can also sit deep in the supply chain. Ingredients, crops, textiles, minerals, packaging, or other inputs may come from regions where water is already scarce, polluted or contested. The more a business relies on water-stressed places, the greater the chance of disruption, rising costs or delays.
A useful first step is to map where the most water-dependent operations and suppliers are located, and whether those places already face drought, flooding, pollution, or competition for water.
How sensitive are businesses to water disruption?
How much the business relies on water being available, affordable and fit for use at the right time.
How could water disruption create wider knock-on effects?
How water stress can create wider knock-on effects for operations, suppliers and communities.
Solutions
How can businesses keep water available, affordable, and fit for use?
Examples of business adaptations and responses
East-West Seed
South African Breweries
Itaipú Binacional
Epic Cleantex, Salesforce, and BXP
Water risk can affect your business even if you do not see yourself as "water intensive." You may depend on water at your own sites, through suppliers, in the communities where you operate, or through the materials and services you buy.
Drought, floods, heatwaves, pollution and declining ecosystem health can reduce water availability, worsen water quality and increase competition for water. This can make it harder or more expensive to produce goods, deliver services, maintain safe workplaces, support suppliers and operate in water-stressed places.
