W4BIZ - Do you want to better understand initiatives guiding sustainable water management in the private sector?

As companies increasingly view water as not just an environmental issue, but a complex driver of very real risks to their businesses, the appetite for better information on how to manage these risks and become good water stewards has grown substantially. In fact, many organizations have put tremendous effort into developing tools and methodologies and compiling the best publicly available water information so that companies can manage their water use in sustainable, efficient, and equitable ways.

WBCSD together with IUCN and SustainAbility released the 3rd version of W4BIZ<http://www.wbcsd.org/work-program/sector-projects/water/water4biz.aspx> (Initiatives guiding sustainable water management in the private sector) aiming to help global companies better understand the set of available tools and frameworks which could inform their water stewardship strategies.

W4BIZ<http://www.wbcsd.org/work-program/sector-projects/water/water4biz.aspx> helps businesses identify the water tools and initiatives that will best meet their specific needs. The goal is to advance understanding of how tools can be combined to yield a practical and effective approach to corporate water management. Some tools are under development and still evolving, while others are not yet available. Different companies may be using the same tool in different ways. Feedback on existing and anticipated tools will allow this document to remain current, and thus to remain relevant, as the field expands. The information provided will promote development and improvement of tools, by catalyzing constructive dialogue among users and developers.

Objectives:

* Provide an overview of water initiatives, so that readers understand "who is doing what";

* Develop a common language for business on water and sustainability;

* Facilitate business engagement in relevant initiatives, and uptake of tools accelerating action;

* Enable the identification of risks and opportunities, gaps and complementarities;

* Help the developers of water tools to increase their impact through consensus building and joint action.

There's a growing awareness of the business impacts of water scarcity, poor water quality, and water use competition. The next step is to continue to communicate where each tool is best suited for water management, identify and fill any existing gaps in their functionality, and combine efforts wherever possible. By doing so, we hope to achieve our ultimate vision: to drive more sustainable and equitable water resource management across sectors.