As part of its commitment to water sustainability and access, Mercy Investment Services is participating in a new initiative helping companies recognize their water risk and commit to reducing their water use.
Ceres’ Valuing Water Finance Initiative (VWFI) is engaging 72 companies with a high water footprint to act on water as a financial risk and drive the necessary large-scale change to better protect water systems. Currently, the initiative has united investors, developed resources, and strategized how to push companies to integrate water-related risks into their planning decisions. To date, Chipotle and Domino’s Pizza have made commitments to conduct a water risk assessment within their supply chain to better understand where high watershed risk areas lie.
Recently, the VWFI released engagement guides that can be used to drive action on water stewardship and water risk mitigation at focus companies in the apparel, food and beverage, and high-tech sectors. These sectors are the biggest contributors to the five critical threats to global freshwater systems – groundwater depletion, metals contamination, plastic pollution, diversion and transfer of water, and eutrophication (accumulation of nutrients in water). A future Ceres report will include cost-benefit analyses and a benchmark that will track company progress and commitments in relation to the six corporate expectations: water quantity, water quality, ecosystem protection, access to water and sanitation, board oversight, and public policy engagement.
Mercy Investment Services will continue to work with Ceres and other shareholders to engage companies on their water risk and impact.