The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has unveiled its updated Water Risk Filter, an online tool that allows users to identify how water affects their businesses and develop strategies to mitigate any risks.
Water crises ranked third among 10 global risks of highest concern in 2014, according to the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Risks Perception Survey. With water risk on the agenda of business and investors as never before, WWF unveils its updated Water Risk Filter.
First released by WWF in 2012, the Water Risk Filter was developed in collaboration with the German development finance institution DEG. The free online tool generates a score based on the physical, regulatory and reputational risk related to water in basins around the world. It also includes an extensive risk mitigation toolbox, allowing the user to reference relevant case studies demonstrating actions to improve water management
“Companies and investors are beginning to understand that their futures depend on a natural resource that is shared among many users. That creates business risk, and it creates incentive to be part of the solution,” says Jochem Verberne from WWF International.
Close to 50,000 individual facilities have been assessed by the Water Risk Filter since its original release. Over 1,500 different organisations have used the tool, including global fashion retailer H&M, which utilised the filter when creating a new water strategy for its entire value chain.
“The Water Risk Filter helped us see all the places where water touches our business, and create strategies to address raw material risks, support supplier factories and improve efficiency in our own stores and offices,” says Felix Ockborn, Environmental Sustainability Coordinator for water at H&M.
The Water Risk Filter website can be accessed here.
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