Getting credit for good water ethics helps companies make a “business case” for doing the right thing. CDP’s Global Water Report 2014 (10 MB) was “written on behalf of 573 investors with US$60 trillion in assets.” For an overview of CDP’s water program, see this presentation by Cate Lamb (head of CDP’s water program) at the UN Water Conference in Zaragosa, Spain, earlier this month.
The CEO Water Mandate, representing some 100 companies that endorse a mandate of six water-related actions, has recently come out with its own set of Corporate Water Disclosure Guidelines, with input from CDP and other groups.
A closely related initiative is the Water Stewardship Standard developed by the Alliance for Water Stewardship. The Standard prescribes what should be done, while the reporting guidelines provide an incentive for doing them.