Business in the world of water: WBCSD Water Scenarios to 2025

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Summary

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Abstract/Executive Summary

Everyone understands that water is essential to life. But many are only just now beginning to grasp how essential it is to everything in life – food, energy, transportation, nature, leisure, identity, culture, social norms, and virtually all the products used on a daily basis. With population growth and economic development driving accelerating demand for everything, the full value of water is becoming increasingly apparent to all.

Businesses cannot afford to ignore this trend. For some it means new economic opportunities in making water available to meet demand or in fi nding solutions to improve water quality and water use efficiency. For others, it means closer scrutiny of how they, their supply chains, and their markets access and use water, and of how new business risks emerge as they compete with other users. In any case, it is time for businesses of all sectors and sizes to add water to their strategic thinking. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has been documenting successful business experience in water management, partnerships, and provision of water services to the poor since it formed its first water working group in 1997. In 2004, the group of WBCSD member companies that we represent decided to reinforce our collective effort to help businesses understand why they should be thinking about water and what they can do about it. We recognize that the world of water is changing and complex, and that our best hope for new insights and strategies for action lies in pooling our individual perspectives and experience. Because water is everybody’s business, business needs the help of other actors in society to get to the issues that really matter.

We chose to build scenarios because scenarios provide a platform for coming to a more systemic and shared view of the bigger and deeper picture. Furthermore, building and using scenarios can help forge shared commitment, as well as shared understanding, by acknowledging uncertainties, by respecting differences in perspectives, and by pointing beyond the problem to explore what solutions might unfold and to what effect. Our specific objectives in building these scenarios were threefold:

1. Clarify and enhance understanding by business of the key issues and drivers of change related to water.
2. Promote mutual understanding between the business community and non-business stakeholders on water management issues.
3. Support effective business action as part of the solution to sustainable water management.

We began by reviewing basic information about the current world water situation and by identifying specific actions that businesses can take. This resulted in two publications: Water Facts and Trends and Collaborative Actions for Sustainable Water Management. We then launched the scenario process as an ideal tool to enable us to look into the future and to act more effectively together in building a platform for dialogue and understanding through constructive engagement. The project involved a series of five workshops with the participation of almost 200 individuals drawn from business, government, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, and academia. In an effort to identify issues of global relevance, the initial orientation workshops were held in Panama, China, and Switzerland. The scenario-building workshop was held in The Netherlands and the final workshop in Washington, D.C.

This book presents the three stories that have emerged from rich and varied discussions as project participants explored ways in which the future may or may not be like the past and why traditional forecasting methods are not good enough. The stories are primarily intended to encourage businesses to ask “What if?” as they test the robustness of their strategies, policies, and principles across a range of plausible, alternative futures in relation to water. As the product of a collaborative process involving many stakeholders, these scenarios also offer value as a catalyst for joint exploration with other actors in society of how businesses can contribute to sustainable water management. The final chapter aims to stimulate ideas about how to use the scenarios and encourages customized approaches tailored to meet the needs of individual organizations. These scenarios – the ‘H2O Scenarios’ – are thus a starting point. Taken as a set, they provide an aid to navigating the rapidly changing world of water. During the scenario-building process, we gathered more information than we could include in the scenarios. This additional material – such as information on new technologies, water reuse, valuing nature, and water use in the life cycle of goods and services – can be downloaded from the WBCSD website (www.wbcsd.org/web/H2Oscenarios.htm).

For most businesses, the journey has only just begun. We are pleased to share this work with the broader business community in the hope that it will encourage all to get on board so that we may continue to learn and act together. We are also deeply grateful to the many individuals and organizations that shared their time, knowledge, experience, and insights in the course of this project. Their input has been invaluable, and their enthusiastic support for the undertaking has strengthened our commitment to steer our course from understanding to action.

References

See also

World Business Council for Sustainable Development

External Resources

WBCSD website

Attachments

 WaterscenariosWBCSD.pdf