The UN has various programs to raise awareness on water issues. Because water is a bare necessity and the UN PRI is successful they try to bring the investment community and the UN environment community together. With all the attention for global warming water has lost a bit of its appeal.

A dramatic example of problems with water can be found in Chad. Lake Chad has always fluctuated dramatically. This shallow lake is very sensitive to its environment. With 4 bordering countries nearly 20 million people are directly dependent on this resource. A study done in 2001 concluded that the decrease in size over the previous 40 years of nearly 90% has nothing to do with climate change, but mainly with overgrazing.

Another example of how intertwined investment and water is can be found on the border of Argentina and Uruguay. For Uruguay this paper mill was by far the most considerably funded project in the its history. With environmental concerns playing a not inconsiderable part in this dispute the development has been halted for now. This clearly shows that water issues are of influence to investors and the investment community.

The UN PRI community always talks about ESG issues, where the E stands for environment. Water is part of the environment but carbon emissions are higher on the agenda. One of the notable projects is the Carbon Disclosure Project. There is no yet a similar initiative for water. An interesting development is the use of the concept of Water Footprint. This footprint indicates both the direct and indirect use, consumed (evaporated) and polluted.

Coca-Cola’s culture and behavior is changing. Though it has taken time and effort to ‘move beyond the  walls of the plant’ in their thinking they have redefined how they want to use a resource such as water. Water is too elemental in this company. It is non-diversified and uses the equivalent of 1/3 of Mexica City’s water consumption, annually.

Coca-Cola has defined its goal to become water-neutral. For Coca-Cola water use has 3 perspectives: reduce, recycle and replenish. Reduce is clear, they will set and publish their targets the end of this year. Recycle means that all their plants only output water that is clean. Now 84% of their water output meet these standards. The end of 2010 it will be 100%. And replenish is that they work for and finance projects to increase quality and quantity of water in the communities they operate.