Why understanding the true value of water is smart business

关于水资源可用性的担忧在世界各地正在增加。水资源稀缺威胁到过去的公司和社区在过去运营的能力。如果他们没有深入了解这些自然资本考虑，并且相应地调整业务，则商业价值可能存在风险。

了解水的真实价值并针对增长的限制是一个growing global trend. Companies that quantify their natural capital dependencies will benefit from a more complete picture of the most effective ways to allocate water and other resources.

Current market pricing disconnected from risks

In many regions, the market price of water is inversely proportional to how much is available. For example, water-scarce regions of China can have a low price for water which does not reflect its relative availability. Forbes India magazine has an informativeworld mapshowing local water prices based on data from Global Water Intelligence.

市场也没有考虑有助于商业价值的风险，也不是水提供社区和生态系统的益处。随着水需求遍布全球，导致不足和运营成本增加，难以与以前相同的业务开展业务。在不衡量隐性风险的情况下对不足的水资源不足，公司无法识别潜在的损失或回应它们。

应通过在市场价格内纳入更广泛的社会和环境意义来衡量水的全部价值。通过使用此价值，公司可以识别隐藏的水风险，并制定更明智的决策，例如基于水可用性的定位设施，并选择用于生产过程中的水有效技术。

Facing water scarcity

Trucost’s researchfor GreenBiz’s2014年绿色业务状况report found that the average US business uses over 49,000 cubic meters of water per million dollars of revenue. In a world faced by increasing water shortages, we must identify and implement ways of decoupling commercial growth from natural capital dependency, so that economic success does not overwhelm natural resource capacity.

今年在加利福尼亚州的干旱反映了资源稀缺对生活质量，经济活动和公共服务的影响。截至2014年9月2日，市政当局，县，部落政府和特区颁发了58次应急水资源撤销。国家水板正在向面临饮用水短缺的社区提供技术和资金援助。国家还在平均年度的野火中回应了25％，这燃烧了15％的面积，等同于增加消防和自然资源损害的成本。

Focusing on the true value of water

Water is not valued properly according to the gaps between supply and demand. For instance, the low market price of water in dry regions is a perverse incentive to grow water-intensive agricultural products despite the high risk of drought or damage to long-term water supplies.

Since market water prices do not capture the full costs of extracting water, these costs are borne by society and the environment — so-called ‘externalities.’ These externalities are becoming more visible as water shortages threaten local communities, ecosystems and economies, droughts shrink crop yields and increase food prices, and desertification takes over farm land.

Applying the true value of water for business growth

How do we monetize water risk so it can be factored into investment decisions and considered alongside other business metrics? Trucost estimates that the true value of one cubic meter of water ranges between $0.10 where it is plentiful and $15 in areas of extreme scarcity. Forward-thinking businesses should apply this true value of water to inform their operating strategies, such as aligning water use with its availability and evaluating new infrastructure investments, procurement strategies and product portfolios. Companies can focus on the true value of water to prepare for having to absorb costs that were once off the books, but are now being internalized due to new regulations, higher water prices or water shortages.

One example of this approach is work by约克郡水in the U.K., which applied natural capital valuations to inform its 25-year corporate strategy so that it could meet the needs of one million new households. The company created an environmental profit and loss account so that it could allocate resources and manage commodity costs for the long term. In the EP&L, negative environmental impacts are shown as losses, such as water extraction, waste disposal and pollution, while environmental benefits are identified as profit, such as the company’s water recharge and energy recovery facilities. Applying monetary values helped the company communicate its water efficiency strategy to stakeholders, including suppliers, customers and regulators, in a way that is easy to understand.

另一个例子是通过雀巢使用暗影水价，因此该公司在其运行决策中包含了全部价值。最近的一篇文章金融时报outlines how the food company applies an internal water value to spur more efficient use in its factories. Under this policy, water is priced at approximately $1 per cubic meter for facilities located where water is readily available and $5 in more arid regions. Nestlé applies this value when considering purchasing new equipment, making tangible the impact of water availability within capital expenditure decisions.Shadow pricing has also been applied to greenhouse gas emissions by Microsoft, Disney, and at least 27 other US companies，将气候影响因素融入其业务决策。

改进决策的货币估值

货币估值使企业能够包括水的真实价值 - 而不是目前的市场价格 - 以及传统上价的资本预算中的劳动力等物品，以及调整资本和业务支出的净目前价值。将货币价值应用于预计的耗水量，从未来现金流量中扣除环境成本，可以透露哪种选择风险较低。通过在单一的货币价值中表达其所有环境影响，公司可以轻松识别和管理其最重要的环境风险和机遇。含水估值也可用于映射商品流量并量化跨公司品牌组合或业务部门的风险。

由于了解水的真实价值，公司可以通过避免或尽量减少与水资源稀缺和其他自然资本限制相关的风险来进行更明智的决定。

Top image byWollertz通过shutterstock。