Liquid assets: Why water stress should be a priority for responsible investors

Key points

• Water stress is a matter of availability, quality and access – and can unevenly affect countries, industries and individuals
• We think there may be particular risks in emerging countries where agriculture and industry can demonstrate high levels of water consumption and pollution
• We have found that fewer than 50% of companies from at-risk sectors implement adequate water-use and pollution management systems today. We think active engagement by investors can bring a real change by incentivising companies to address water issues.

The quantity and quality of available water is a unifying global concern. Every country, every citizen, every company and every investor is affected. It reaches into human rights for access to proper hygiene and to equitable sharing of the benefits from nature and its basic resources.

It is also a food security matter with the potential to undermine stability for the global agrifood sector as well as an operational risk for many industries relying on water for cooling or other functions.¹ It is, in our view, an inescapable and discrete issue for responsible investors seeking to protect portfolios against risk while fostering sustainable economic models for the future.

Water stress is an issue of water consumption (availability), water pollution (quality) and equitable distribution (access). Investors can think of these three factors as constituent parts of the relevant United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation).²

For companies and their investors, we can boil this down to three potential areas of action: Improving the management and quality of water resources; protecting and restoring water-related ecosystems; and ensuring people have access to safe and affordable drinking water and adequate sanitation and hygiene.

There are wider implications too. In many cases water stress may be broadly associated with climate change, with particular impacts around pollution, increased soil salinity, the drying up of wetlands (which are also highly effective natural carbon sinks), erosion and loss of biodiversity.

In its turn, climate change through time is only exacerbating water stress by driving a shift in the nature and location of dry/wet areas around the globe and increasing flood risks while ramping up the duration and intensity of droughts. Any disturbances to the availability and quality of water brings clear issues of access.

The UN has estimated that 2.3 billion people worldwide live in ‘water-stressed’ countries, and 733 million of those are in nations deemed to be either ‘high’ or ‘critically’ water-stressed.³

Pressure points

Water stress does not fall evenly around the world and not every industry faces the same level of risk. Developing countries, by and large, are much more exposed to issues of water availability, quality and access than their developed market peers, with direct effects on local population health, safety, and economic development. Industries operating in emerging markets (EM) may also be more intensive in terms of their impact – sometimes driven by demand from developed markets that have effectively outsourced certain water-intensive industries. In food, for example, Brazil was the world’s third-largest exporter of food in 2021, behind only the European Union (EU) and US, while in textile production, China, India, Turkey, Vietnam and Pakistan were all in the global top 10 of exporters.⁴

Advanced water risks in EM

Developing countries are most affected by water shortages, flooding, and poor water quality – and their economies most likely to be held back by those conditions. Just after the turn of the last century, the UN was warning that about 80% of illnesses in the developing world were linked to inadequate water and sanitation.⁵ And yet still today more than 1.7 billion people do not have basic sanitation services, such as private toilets or latrines.⁶ Emerging countries may experience steadily decreasing water availability, and at the same time suffer increasing weather extremes, including violent rains and floods.

Some parts of the developing world are already known to be at high risk of water deficit in the near future, including nations in the Mediterranean region and North Africa. Meanwhile, countries like China, Brazil, India, and others in Central Africa, West Africa and Latin American, are also exposed to water-related risks aggravated by deforestation, intensive agriculture practices and the presence of highly intensive and polluting industries operating under insufficient local technical and legal standards. They may also suffer from limited availability of efficient infrastructure and effective administrative management of land and resources, including water. 

In all these countries, the ambition to increase and further develop agriculture and industry is high. China is home to almost 20% of the global population and is one of the leading food producers globally – the top producer of wheat, pork and poultry, and the second largest supplier of corn⁷ – but counts just 7% of the world’s freshwater reserves.⁸ Moreover, some 80% of its groundwater was highly polluted, according to an official 2016 study.⁹

China has committed to significant investment in water projects across its territory, and access to water of good quality has become a matter of social and economic survival – back in 2005 it moved the minister of water resources to state that China must “fight for every drop of water or die”.¹⁰ It would be understandable if tensions then arose between intensive and polluting sectors, including agriculture, and the desire for food safety and health. 

In developed countries, by contrast, the focus has moved towards more higher value (and less water-intensive) agriculture and away from any substantial increase to intensive production. As a result, water risks seem manageable despite lingering questions around the quality and efficiency of water management in different countries.

Richer nations may also benefit more quickly from the development of potential solutions including  internal purification systems, water consumption optimisation and recycling systems. On a structural level, water-related equipment and infrastructure are well established and pollution levels tend to be more carefully monitored.  

Industries risk running dry  

Agriculture accounts for 69% of global freshwater consumption (known as withdrawals) and so the agrifood sector finds itself at the sharp end of policy and stakeholder action calling for a systemic change in natural resources use.¹¹

Other industries, however, may also present some important levers in terms of achieving a reduction of negative impacts. To identify those sectors and their level of preparedness to address water-related issues, it is possible to use some of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) datapoints already available to investors.

These might include a company’s exposure to water-related controversies/incidents; company data on water intensity and its three-year trend; and company data on systems and programmes implemented to optimise water consumption and reduce pollution.

Using these datapoints, sourced from ESG research firm Sustainalytics, we think it is possible to identify the companies (and therefore sectors) most exposed to water-related concerns and then track the level of mitigation efforts made by the affected companies.

Below we set out some top-level findings from this process from a range of companies, many of which are corporates with a diverse geographical footprint and presence in emerging markets.

Other sectors exposed to water risks include the garment and textile industry, pharmaceuticals, automotive and consumer goods, all of which are material for emerging economies like China and India where the production often takes place.¹²

The nuclear sector and paper industry are also responsible for large-scale water withdrawal, with operations often positioned close to water sources and with most of the water rejected back to its source after use. Over time water availability may become a real operational risk for these industries.

The chemical industry is among the most intensive in terms of discharge of effluents and hazardous waste. While the most important chemical risks in drinking water arise from arsenic, fluoride or nitrate, there are emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS¹³ ) and microplastics which are also to be considered.¹⁴

Investor engagement is not a drop in the ocean

When investors consider how they might approach companies on the issue of water stress, we think it makes sense to encourage at-risk industries to structure their water management approach to address those three pillars: Water consumption (availability); water pollution (quality); and equitable distribution (access).

Water availability will relate either to physical scarcity (local shortage of water due to local climate or ecological conditions) or to a lack of water infrastructure. Adopting a location-based approach identifying water availability risks as well as their cause could be an efficient way to inform a company’s water management actions.

Taking into consideration each step of the water cycle in a company’s own operations, including eventual treatment, recycling and purification of water used would not only contribute to optimise water consumption, but also to decrease the volume of effluents and general water contamination with pollutants. In turn, any increase in water quality would lower costs and health risks associated with water consumption by local communities, making clean freshwater more accessible for all.

We think that active engagement from responsible investors can support companies at each of these steps with the goal of maintaining sustainable and thriving businesses that serve their communities and reduce operational risks. The tables below set out a potential engagement structure aligned to those three pillars and drawing out relevant key performance indicators (KPIs).

Source: AXA IM internal ESG research

Transformations

Of course, different companies may have different levels of preparedness and maturity as regards water management. This is especially true for entities operating in emerging markets. Corporations at the early stages of understanding and addressing water stress could start from:

• Identifying why water is a material issue for their businesses and operations
• Building up water stress mapping
• Measuring their global water consumption and wastewater generation

Much of the responsibility for water management lies within the field of public authorities, local and international, particularly as regards development of nationwide or international (cross-border) water management infrastructure suited to local and regional circumstances. Clearly, government regulation and policy action will be a powerful driver for corporate behaviour.

However, water stress is a global problem, without borders, and the private sector and every affected industry has a role to play in improving the broader picture to the wider benefit of investors everywhere. Companies are able not only to contribute to reduce consumption and pollution pressures on water, but also to bring forward transformational solutions within their industries. We think these could include:

• Transforming agriculture by reducing heavily industrialised approaches and favouring alternative, local, circular, ecological solutions
• Introducing sustainable land development solutions (smaller parcels better managed, etc.) and smart technology and irrigation management (satellite and other solutions to identify where water is needed/where it is being wasted, for example)
• Working on supply chain management – choosing suppliers with a view to developing more sustainable approaches
• Revegetating, depolluting and protecting – restoring what can be restored where it makes sense 
• Developing water management approaches in connection with improved protection strategies for global biodiversity and natural capital alongside sustained climate change efforts.

We think water can offer a clear focus for investors to make a tangible positive difference to corporate behaviour. And we think this can be done while seeking sustainable investment outcomes through thoughtful engagement and deep portfolio research backed by specialist third parties. Just 3% of the world’s water is freshwater, and much of that is locked in glaciers or otherwise unavailable.²⁰ Simply put, water is not an infinite resource; and it will only continue to feel that way if we are able to successfully manage its circulation through nature, into our homes and through the industries reliant upon it.