Freshwater

Water is essential for all human life. Rising consumption, climate change and pollution are increasing pressure on water supply. Companies and cities need a clear way of minimizing their own impact on water as well as identifying opportunities to invest in collective solutions. 

Addressing how they impact and depend on water will enable companies and cities to specify how to help create sustainable water systems. Incorporating water into their science-based targets for nature will enable them to future-proof growth without depleting or polluting water resources and help drive the transition to a water-secure world.

SBTs will help companies and cities focus on how their activities affect water quality and quantity. Setting SBTs will help them understand which water basins are the highest priority. It will also define what an individual company’s role is in helping improve a particular water system. 

Since water resources are interconnected to all of nature, water targets will need to be set in coordination with other areas like land, climate and biodiversity.

From September 15 – October 14, Science Based Targets Network has released – for public comment – draft detailed methodologies for companies to assess and prioritize their impacts on nature, and enable them to progress to setting targets first on freshwater quality and quantity.

Once finalized, this will form the basis of SBTN’s first release of SBTs for nature in early 2023, which will include initial target-setting resources on freshwater as well as land to complement those on climate from the Science Based Targets initiative.