3min chapter

Inevitable cover image

Diving into Desalination with Peter Fiske, National Alliance for Water Innovation

Inevitable

CHAPTER

Businesses' Responsibilities in Emissions and Water Management

Exploring the current state of emissions and water management in US businesses, emphasizing California's role in driving legislative changes. The chapter also touches on the growing awareness in industrial sectors about sustainable water management practices amidst low water costs in the US.

00:00
Speaker 2
One thing I've learned about climate is obviously a big challenge with climate change, in particular with greenhouse gas emissions is the lack of accounting for the externality of them when it comes to businesses and their continual creation of emissions. Today in the US, Europe has done a lot more on this, but in the US, emissions are a voluntary thing that companies can choose to remove, but they're not required to. You're seeing more and more pressure that is causing companies to be cognizant of it and manage against it. And California has recently passed legislation requiring companies to account for it. What are the economics of water today? Are companies paying for their water use? Are they responsible for how much water they consume in their operations? Is it something they have to actively consider in managing the forecasts of their business?
Speaker 1
When I talk to business leaders and corporate leaders, it's commonly the case that for the most part, the cost of water is not the concern. We in the United States actually have shockingly cheap water. And we have shockingly cheap water partly because our great grandparents invested in these systems that delivered reliable water to our agricultural sector and to our cities. Where I see the real concern is in the industrial sector, they realize that water and water use is a critical part of their environmental sustainability goals. And they will be judged not on whether their prices go up because water is more expensive. They will be judged by how their water demand is impinging on the rest of the community. And interesting one industry that surprised me by being very forward leaning on water treatment is the mining sector. And speaking to leaders in the mining sector, they've determined that they will not have social license to operate a new mine unless they have stewards for that property forever. That means to say they need to be engineering the mining and extraction process and the closure and site rehabilitation process in a way that is permanent, not just walking away. And so this need for making sure that you have social license to operate. This is what's driving a number of industries to really push forward in water. We use even industry leaders like Amazon and Pepsi. They're rich. They can afford more expensive water. That's not the point. The point is they realize that if they don't show up with a more progressive approach to wise water use, they could face a real pushback with brand harm and negative repercussions. And so I really credit the industrial sector as recognizing that this is not simply a cost of doing business. It's of values associated with doing business.

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