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The
Valuing Water Finance Initiative is the latest led by
sustainability investor group Ceres to bring pressure
corporations on environmental issues.
Ceres on Tuesday said participants include 64 U.S. and
international investors with a total of $9.8 trillion under
management including pension funds and plus asset managers such
as Franklin Resources, Federated Hermes and Fidelity
International.
The group wants companies in industries, including food and
technology, to pay more attention to the impact their operations
have on water quality and availability and the protection of
freshwater ecosystems.
While organizers said they wanted to bring attention to the
issue, they did not set out many specific steps for portfolio
companies to take, in contrast to some investor efforts that set
goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050.
"The very first thing is you’d expect a company to map its own
risks" stemming from issues like water scarcity, said John
Anzani, executive at the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum for
United Kingdom-based funds, during a webcast to introduce the
event.
Participants might consider additional steps of "escalation"
like voting against directors at companies like those that won't
engage, he added.
In a report last year, Ceres and research partners found three
large packaged meat companies would need to spend $422 million a
year on capital and operating expenses to address their impact
on freshwater from nutrient runoff and water withdrawals, a low
price to address risks, according to the report.
(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Aurora Ellis)
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