Intro

The United Nations’ annual World Water Day observance took place on March 22, with a focus on supporting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. 

In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we dive into the water stewardship practices at Amazon, one of the world’s largest companies with a market cap of more than $2 trillion dollars. Amazon Water Sustainability Lead Will Hewes outlines the company's approach to water in the communities it serves and across Amazon's business lines, which range from e-commerce to online entertainment streaming services to grocery stores and cloud computing.  

Will explains that one of the company’s goals is to be "water positive" in its datacenter operations at Amazon Web Services by 2030 — meaning AWS aims to return more water to communities than it uses in direct operations. 

Amazon operates in several countries and regions facing water-related challenges that are being exacerbated by climate change, and Will says the company is working with communities to support their adaptation efforts.  

"We can't solve that entire crisis on our own, obviously,” Will says. “But how can we help plug in and help support some of those adaptations that need to happen to make sure that communities and the environment still have water they need, when they need it?"  

Read further research from S&P Global Sustainable1: 

How climate change is exacerbating drought risks

For the world’s largest companies, climate physical risks have a $1.2 trillion annual price tag by the 2050s

Learn more about S&P Global Sustainable1's climate physical risk dataset, which include financial calculations on water stress and drought risks, here.

Listen to our podcast episode featuring an interview with the CEO of Water.org here. 

 This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.         

Copyright ©2025 by S&P Global         

DISCLAIMER   

By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties.   

S&P GLOBAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.