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Water data isn’t just a reporting tool it is a CSR asset.

Only 3% of the world’s water is freshwater. The OECD’s Principles on Water Governance explicitly recognise that businesses have a responsibility to go beyond compliance acting as proactive stewards across their operations and supply chains (OECD, 2015). 

This is exactly where Water Footprint Assessments become powerful. 

The work we do at Water Footprint Implementation gives companies something rare: precise, supply-chain-level data on where water is consumed, under what local conditions, and what that means for the communities and ecosystems connected to it.  

For a pair of jeans, that’s between 2,650 and 4,500 liters of embedded water. The majority being tied to raw material choices, not manufacturing. For a soft drink, 99% of the total water footprint occurs upstream in the agricultural supply chain. 

The FAO has highlighted that agriculture alone accounts for 72% of global freshwater withdrawals, making supply chain water action one of the highest-leverage interventions any company can make (FAO, 2020). 

That kind of specificity matters because voluntary corporate water action only creates real value when it is grounded in real data. 

And stakeholders notice. 

Investors are pricing water risk into valuations. The CDP Water Security Report found that the financial risk companies face from water insecurity in the supply chain is three times higher than the cost of addressing it (CDP, 2024).  

Retailers and B2B buyers are asking harder questions about supply chain sustainability. Consumers, particularly younger ones, are making choices based on brand integrity.  

A water footprint assessment doesn’t just inform your CSR strategy. It gives you the evidence base to act on it, credibly. 

For more information or interest in the tool, please contact us at info@waterfootprintimplementation.com

 

Sources: 

  • FAO. 2020. The State of Food and Agriculture 2020. Overcoming water challenges in agriculture. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1447en 
  • CDP, 2024. Global Water Report 2023.  
  • OECD, 2015. Principles on Water Governance 
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