Are Corporates & Governments Acting On Water Risk?

: To start the year with a bang we take a look at the action on water risk by corporates and governments. Water is again in the Top 5 global risks in terms of impact in the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Risk Report. So how well are corporates acting? Well, according to a recent report, little has changed from business-as-usual in terms of water management. We sat down with report authors IUCN’s Dalton & ODI’s Newborne. CDP’s latest Water Survey shows more corporate action is still needed with USD14 billion reported in impacts. Their Gillespy expands. Sarni, water stewardship expert, shares how innovation through “business ecosystems” can help move stewardship forward. On this front we are pleased to announce our new partnership with the Alliance for Water Stewardship to jointly promote good water stewardship in China’s river basins. What about governments? We look at Hong Kong and Scotland. We sat down with Dr Lee of HKU to learn more on the JC-WISE initiative that aims to change the public’s relationship with water. Meanwhile, Scotland is pursuing its ‘Hydro Nation’ vision. Hear from Grieg from the Scottish government on their many successes. Preparing river basins for impacts from climate change is important. adelphi’s Sabine Blumstein shares 3 reasons for stronger climate diplomacy. Meanwhile, it is positive to see China already taking action this year. Just last week CWR gave a talk on water risk valuation at a green finance workshop on environmental stress testing organised by People’s Bank of China. Also, three of China’s richest entrepreneurs (Jack Ma, Zhang Xin & Pan Shiyi) have announced they will back the USD1 billion New-Energy Fund. These point to more action in 2017.