Ceres

In June a.s.r. signed the Valuing Water Finance Initiative, which is a new global investor-led effort to engage corporate water users and polluters to value and act on water as a financial risk and drive the necessary large-scale change to better protect water systems13. The initiative will call on companies
to better protect water systems. The initiative will call in companies to meet a set of soon-to-be released Corporate Expectations for Valuing Water that align with the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for Water (SDG 6) and the actions laid out in the Ceres Roadmap 2030.

We are facing an existential and multi-faceted threat to our freshwater resources, even in the Netherlands – which is also known as ‘Netherlands Waterland’ – we are confronted with shortages of drinking water14. In addition to the danger this poses to human and ecosystem health, the global water crisis is also a systemic, far-reaching, financial risk to nearly all economies. The water crisis is exacerbated by climate change, making it even more urgent to drive capital market actors – including large institutional investors and major corporations – to address water issues.

The Valuing Water Finance Initiative will drive large-scale change in corporate water practices via key partnerships, first-of-its-kind research, and institutional investor engagement. Using new research and analysis as a foundation, Ceres co-developed – with members of the Valuing Water Finance Task Force, and other investor and NGO partners – a set of clear action steps that companies should take to improve water stewardship. In 2022, the Valuing Water Finance Initiative will launch an investor-led campaign shaped by these action steps to move companies on their water use via investor engagement.