There’s a quiet shift happening in the ESG landscape, quiet, but loud enough if you know how to listen. It’s not new, but it’s becoming impossible to ignore. It flows under the radar of board meetings, shows up in the risk matrix as operational disruption, and sometimes, if we’re lucky, it’s mentioned in the footnotes of sustainability reports. Water.
We’ve always known water is essential, but we treated it like it would always be there. Now, it’s showing us what scarcity really means.
According to the World Resources Institute, by 2030, global water demand is expected to outstrip supply by 56%. And it’s not a distant threat. Just last year, CDP reported that companies disclosed $301 billion in potential financial impacts from water-related risks, while the cost to address these risks was estimated at only $55 billion. That’s a 5.5x ratio. In plain terms, we are risking far more than what it would cost to act now.
I’ve seen it firsthand companies realizing too late that the communities around them no longer have access to clean water, that conflict brews when there’s not enough to go around. Or that the aquifer they’ve relied on for decades is simply not replenishing fast enough. And in those moments, no mitigation plan or PR strategy can replace what was lost Trust, Collaboration, Reputation and sometimes, even operations.
We’re entering a new stage where water is not just a compliance issue or a CSR project, it’s a strategic variable. One that can define the future of your business.
The most forward-thinking companies are no longer asking how they reduce their water use, they’re asking how they ensure there’s enough water for everyone, and that changes everything.
Some are redesigning their entire production systems. AB InBev, for example, implemented watershed protection projects across several of its priority sites, particularly in areas of high-water stress like parts of Mexico and South Africa by restoring local ecosystems, working with communities, and rethinking operations not just around efficiency but around regeneration.
Others, like Nestlé, have made water stewardship a board-level issue. In 2023, they announced that 100% of their manufacturing sites in high-risk areas will implement water reuse and replenishment projects by 2025.
But more than the strategies, what I find most powerful is the mindset shift. It’s no longer enough to measure cubic meters saved. Real resilience begins when we recognize that water isn’t just a resource, it’s a relationship.
When companies move from controlling to co-creating, we begin to see true ESG leadership. Because resilience isn’t found in a risk matrix. It’s built into community meetings, watershed restoration partnerships, and transparent conversations.
We need to unlearn the idea that nature is infinite and that communities will stay silent, they won’t.
So maybe it’s time to rethink our KPIs, not just in liters/gallons or costs avoided, but in livelihoods protected, ecosystems restored, and trust rebuilt.
And there’s the real shift: water resilience can no longer live only in sustainability departments or under an operations workstream. It must be embedded into the business model, integrated into how we define value, and championed from the C-suite.
This isn’t about another initiative or a short-term fix. It’s about reimagining how your company shows up in the places where it operates, how it shares, protects and regenerates water.
Because water is speaking, and resilience won’t come from reacting. It will come from rethinking everything starting now.
To those leading companies: don’t wait for water to become your crisis. Make it your strategy.