Water is more essential to industry and daily life than oil. But fresh water, like many other natural resources
once considered abundant, is running low: the World Bank says global demand for water is doubling every 21 years and the UN estimates that by 2025 two-thirds of the world could face water ‘stress’ situations.
Many organisations have therefore started to respond seriously to water risk. This report focuses on two companies that are leading the way in the area of water management and valuation.
In May 2011, Puma was the first organisation to put an economic valuation of the ecological impact caused by water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions along its value chain. Meanwhile Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest mining and resources companies, began in 2005 to take a more strategic view of water, including accounting for the value of water.
