Moving the climate focus beyond carbon and on to water
The impact of water-related risks on communities is potentially catastrophic, given water’s place as a critical input to all facets of life. It is this that makes risks related to water multi-dimensional. Furthermore, not only do we need to know how much water is used (i.e. volume), but we also need to plot that against where the unit of water is used (location).
The reasonableness of producing a portfolio-wide water metric is less clear than in the case of carbon footprint.
Water risks are regional, multi-dimensional and very distinct from carbon. In researching how to incorporate water issues systematically into an investment portfolio we have identified: