A group of 64 investors holding $9.8 trillion in assets under management this month formed an initiative aimed at companies with a high water footprint to pressure them on valuing and reducing the material, financial risks linked to water and, in turn, to better guard global freshwater resources. The investor group, led by Ceres, plans first to engage, but some investors within the coalition may escalate their actions if they don’t see progress, sources said.

“We realized that the water crisis was playing out around us at a dizzying pace and that we need to scale the action and elevate water risk [mitigation] to the pace where climate risk is in terms of attention by the private sector and action,” said Kirsten James, a senior program director at Ceres who is directing the strategy for investors and companies to address water sustainability risks.

…Some 143 companies included water risk disclosures in ESG and related policies, reports and board charters between Jan. 1, 2021, and Aug. 22, 2022, according to a search through public company intelligence provider MyLogIQ.