NAT.C04.EC Requiring Business Partners to Respect Right to Water and Sanitation
About the data
This metric was designed by The World Benchmarking Alliance, more information can be found here. Sources and Alignments for each indicator can be found here as well as the scoring guidelines here
The World Benchmarking Alliance's Nature Benchmark measures and ranks the world's most influential companies on their efforts to protect our environment and its biodiversity.
This metric relates to the Indicator: The company respects the right to water and does not negatively affect access to safe water.
Rationale: Water scarcity affects more than 40% of people around the world – an alarming figure that is projected to increase due to climate change (UN, 2021). Water challenges include not only water scarcity but also pollution, flooding and access to drinking water and sanitation services. Companies are expected to adopt water stewardship practices that ensure water use and treatment are socially equitable and environmentally sustainable (UNGC, 2007).
Methodology
WBA analysed all publicly available group-level disclosure in English on the applicable group website, which was predominantly annual reports and sustainability reports. Draft assessments were then sent to each company inviting them to provide feedback. This feedback could include additional publicly available group disclosure published. These were then reviewed and finalised. Final assessments were then shared with each company before being published online.
For this metric this information must be codified in a policy document, such as supplier code of conduct or similar.