Corporate Water Accounting: An Analysis of Methods and Tools for ...

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42 in the value chain to prioritize where they might focus their external engagement. For instance, if a company determines that the majority of their water use occurs in agricultural production, they could work with local growers (and suppliers) to implement efficiency improvements. Companies could also work with academia to further develop technologies that support these efficiency improvements. Similarly, companies could work with water managers to conserve water (e.g., through funding the repair of pipes), which is often cheaper and saves more water than internal efficiency improvements. If companies determine that their water use is hindering environmental flows or community access to water, they could partner with local NGOs to find effective solutions. Water footprinting is particularly well suited to help inform corporate engagement with water policy and management because it was originally designed as method for assessing WRM (and therefore many managers and policymakers are familiar with it). Its effectiveness as a communication tool for non-technical audiences also makes it particularly useful to this end. Life Cycle Assessment For some time, LCA outputs have been used to inform environmental purchase and sales decisions. This occurs either as a support for environmental claims or as the supporting information for LCA-based (i.e., Type I and Type III) ecolabels. In this context, LCA is useful to program operators of ecolabel programs, whether they are governmental or private sector programs. Type I labels are provided for products whose life cycle performance exceeds set standards. In contrast, Type III environmental product declarations (EPDs) merely disclose performance in a pre-set fashion by product category rules and make no claim of environmental superiority. EPD programs require LCA studies to be performed for all products seeking the label. EPDs are becoming a requirement under law in some countries, such as in Northern Europe. Almost all EPDs are aimed at the business or institutional customer. If and when the labels become available in a consumer setting, they will have to be accompanied by a substantial educational effort. Studies on nutrition labels, for example, show that even decades on, the consumer is confused about the meaning of the information, and environmental information is even more obscure to the average consumer. The general framework for and validation of LCA studies is governed by the relevant ISO* standards: • ISO 14040 and 14044 (the life cycle standards) • ISO 14025 and 21930 (the EPD standards) In general, these standards require higher levels of verification as the use of the data becomes more public and more widespread. The required/recommended validations are: • For internal use only, verification by a co-worker who was not involved in the original study. • For external use (what is called a thirdparty report), verification by a panel of at least three, including LCA experts and interested parties. • For EPDs, there are two levels of verification: the first for development of the product category rules, which requires a panel of experts and interested parties, and the second for EPD productspecific LCA study, which requires only an independent individual. The standards call out the requirements for LCA experts, including that they be independent (with no conflicts of interest) and be technically competent in LCA matters and in the specific elements of the EPD program and the relevant standards. The review team must also have expertise in the products and processes under consideration. WBCSD Global Water Tool Though limited in the scope of data it addresses, the WBCSD Global Water Tool can serve as an effective communications tool due to the fact that it is easily understood by non-technical audiences. Companies are increasingly starting to include brief summaries of the proportion of their operations in water-stressed and water-abundant regions in their CSR reports and often use the WBCSD Global Water Tool as the basis for this * ISO is also currently developing a standard specifically for water accounting, discussed further in Appendix B
43 assessment. Furthermore, the Tool converts the water use and discharge input data into GRI G3 indicators for total water withdrawals (GRI EN8); total recycled water use (GRI EN10); and total water discharge (GRI EN21). This allows companies to easily quantify and report their water use in a manner that is harmonized and comparable across many businesses and industry sectors. GEMI Water Sustainability Tools The GEMI tools are geared toward internal assessments at the facility- and company-wide level and are not designed or generally used as communication tools.
Page 1 and 2: CORPORATE WATER ACCOUNTING An Analy
Page 3 and 4: 3 Preface The United Nations Enviro
Page 5 and 6: 5 VII. Conveying Water Information
Page 7 and 8: 7 seeking to use existing methods a
Page 9 and 10: 9 ES-1 Summary of Findings on Corpo
Page 11 and 12: 11 I. Introduction Problem statemen
Page 13 and 14: 13 the standards-setting community;
Page 15 and 16: 15 II. Understanding Water Accounti
Page 17 and 18: 17 ficiency may also help companies
Page 19 and 20: 19 III. Origins, Objectives, and St
Page 21 and 22: 21 confusion. For the purpose of th
Page 23 and 24: 23 is that often one does not know
Page 25 and 26: 25 • Water Management Risk Questi
Page 27 and 28: 27 Summary of Scope and Structure f
Page 29 and 30: 29 services to effectively manage a
Page 31 and 32: 31 assessment of relative water ris
Page 33 and 34: 33 relevance than 20,000 gallons of
Page 35 and 36: 35 the functional unit-relative res
Page 37 and 38: 37 Limitations While the concept of
Page 39 and 40: 39 Summary of Accounting Approaches
Page 41: 41 what is asked of companies in re
Page 45 and 46: 45 of the watersheds in which they
Page 47 and 48: 47 to assess business risks. Carbon
Page 49 and 50: 49 X. Advancing Corporate Water Acc
Page 51 and 52: sustainable water management in gen
Page 53 and 54: 53 Appendix A: List of Research Adv
Page 55 and 56: 55 Overview of LCA entities (partic
Page 57 and 58: 57 competitive advantage. Such a ce
Page 60: The Ten Principles of the United Na

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