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

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56 surement and communication of the water footprint of products, processes, and organizations. While this standard refers to itself a standard for “water footprints”, it is important to note that “water footprints” in this context refers to the broader range of water accounting tools and not specifically water footprints as developed by WFN. This standard intended to establish a framework and set of principles that enable existing water accounting methods to be consistent with one another and with other standards. This will consider regional concerns (e.g. relative scarcity, extent of economic development, etc.). ISO has explicitly stated that it does not intended to establish its own methodology, but rather provide guidelines for the important elements that water accounting methods should address. Other corporate water accounting initiatives Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s Water Accounting Standards Board As part of the Australian Government’s Raising National Water Standard Program, the Water Accounting Standards Board (WASB) is responsible for the oversight and coordination of the development of all the nation’s standards on water accounting. It is housed with the Bureau of Meteorology, but serves as an independent expert advisory board. WASB recently published the Water Accounting Conceptual Framework (WACF), which provides guidance for the preparation and presentations of general purpose water accounts, as well as a preliminary Australian water accounting standard that is meant to harmonize the methods and indicators that are used to measure water use and discharge. These documents are applicable to many different sectors, including the private sector. Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) Water Footprint Working Group BIER – a coalition of global beverage companies working to advance environmental stewardship – has formed the BIER Water Footprint Working Group to develop sector-specific guidelines for assessing the water use and impacts of a company or product. These guidelines will attempt to establish common water accounting boundaries, definitions, and calculation methods for the beverage industry. They will provide detailed instructions for specific inputs and operations that are unique to the sector. These guidelines will be developed with assistance from ISO, WFN, WWF, and UNEP/SETAC and will be published in late 2010. Corporate Water Gauge The Corporate Water Gauge is a context-based measurement tool/ method that measures the sustainability of a facility’s and/or enterprise’s water use in light of locally relevant watershed and precipitation conditions, while taking into account the volumes, sources and sinks of water inflows and outflows, and the populations with whom such resources must be shared. The Gauge produces quantitative scores that reflect the sustainability of a facility’s/organization’s water use relative to locally renewable supplies. Sustainability performance is determined by comparing rates of water use against rates of water regeneration, after allocating shares of available resources to specific facilities and/or organizations. It uses GIS technology to profile, analyze and report local hydrological, demographic and economic information at a watershed level of analysis in combination with site-specific datasets. It was developed by the Center for Sustainable Innovation, a non-profit corporation dedicated to the advancement of sustainability measurement, management and reporting in organizational settings. Minerals Council of Australia The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) is an organization - composed of over 60 member companies and associate members – that represents Australian mining and mineral processing industries in their efforts to reach sustainable development. It works to promote policy and practice that is safe, profitable, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible. Since 2005, MCA has been developing a water accounting framework meant specifically for the mineral industry. This framework aims to provide a way to quantify water flows into and out of facilities, metrics for reporting about water use and discharge, an approach to account for recycled water, and a model for detailed operational water balances. A preliminary framework was released in July 2008 and results from a pilot test of the framework were released in November 2009. Other supporting organizations and initiatives Alliance for Water Stewardship The AWS is an initiative developing a global freshwater stewardship certification program. This certification program will provide a voluntary “eco-label” that rewards responsible water use management with
57 competitive advantage. Such a certification system will require quantification of water use, discharge, and impacts, however the Alliance intends to build on existing methodologies (namely the water footprint as developed by WFN) as a key component of its measurement, and will attempt to minimize duplication of efforts and confusion in this space. The Alliance intends for this certification scheme to be applicable both to water “users” (businesses) and water “providers” (utilities). The initiative is currently in the standards development phase in which they are defining what constitutes water stewardship. Global Footprint Network The Global Footprint Network (GFN) - established in 2003 - encourages and facilitates the use of the Ecological Footprint (EF) in order to promote global dialogue and action on ecological limits and sustainability. It is comprised of individuals, cities, nations, companies, scientists, NGOs, and academia from all over the world. The Network’s work involves continuously improving the EF methodology, engaging with national governments to establish the EF as a globally-accepted metric, developing footprint standards, and encouraging cooperation among sectors to advance these concepts. The Greenhouse Gas Protocol Initiative The GHG Protocol – a partnership between the World Resources Institute and the WBCSD - is perhaps the most popular accounting tool for GHG emissions worldwide. It works with the public, private, and civil society sectors to advance credible and effective programs for mitigating climate change. The GHG Protocol developed the only widely-accepted methodology for corporate carbon footprinting and is one of the many methodologies for product carbon footprinting. It provides the standard for corporate carbon accounting as well as calculation tools for carrying this out. ISO has adopted the Protocol’s Corporate Standard as the basis for its standard on corporate carbon accounting. Global Reporting Initiative The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is a network-based organization that has developed the world’s most widely-used corporate sustainability reporting framework. The most recent version of this framework (known as the G3 Guidelines) includes five water-related criteria among a list of environmental, social, and economic criteria. These guidelines do not call for the reporting of quantified impacts. They also do not provide a comprehensive methodology for accounting for their criteria, but rather establish a harmonized framework through which companies communicate to stakeholders.
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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 and 42: 41 what is asked of companies in re
Page 43 and 44: 43 assessment. Furthermore, the Too
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: 55 Overview of LCA entities (partic
Page 60: The Ten Principles of the United Na
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