Promoting water sustainability of financial institutions: Insights from Water Footprint Assessment

Financial institutions (FIs) are more powerful than ever before, but hardly wield their influence to promote water sustainable business practices. Lagging behind companies in their quest for wise corporate water practices, FIs still turn a blind eye to the implications that their financed activities have on water resources. This is unfortunate, as investment decisions made today will greatly affect the state of water resources tomorrow. Insights from the scientific field of Water Footprint Assessment (WFA) can help straddle the existing knowledge gap, improve investment decision-making processes, while informing meaningful FI action for the protection of Earth’s precious liquid natural capital.