Posts made in November, 2012

Carbon for Water: A smart business approach to sustainable development

Carbon for Water delivers safe water to 4.5m people in Western Kenya, improving the health and well-being of 900,000 families, slowing deforestation and cutting a substantial 2.4m tonnes of CO2 emissions each year. Katharine Earley explores how the project works, highlighting the innovative financing model and business-like rigour that have ensured its success, and considers how investing in this and other similar projects can help organisations to address multiple corporate responsibility goals. The idea that businesses hold the key to catalysing progress on sustainable development – at...

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What does the future hold for the world’s water legislation?

As concerns over water scarcity deepen, how will the world’s governments respond? Katharine Earley reviews current developments in water legislation and considers how businesses can expect legislation to change in the future, as policy-makers seek to ensure the availability of water among all user groups.  The UN states that half the world’s population should have access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015. Policymakers are also increasingly acknowledging the human right to water, with discussions surrounding access to the world’s precious 3% of fresh water set to...

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How far away is a standardised approach to water reporting?

Businesses are becoming more acutely aware of the potential impact that water-related issues could have on their operations, as highlighted by theCDP’s Global Water Report. However, there has been minimal change in terms of visibility of water strategies at board level, according to the report. As the march towards a global standard in benchmarking water usage continues, the critical question of water stewardship may inevitably rise further up the agenda. Common benchmarking challenges Companies are starting to adopt a more holistic approach to measuring their water usage, taking account...

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