The rise of corporate water
My recent experience in corporate water management, for professionals who want to understand what is truly at stake, and seize the opportunities driven by the significant investments ahead.
A few weeks ago, I heard in Global Water Intelligence that investment opportunities in corporate water could grow from less than $1 billion today to more than $3 trillion by 2035.
It is expected to become one of the largest growth areas in the water sector.
This helped me understand why, in recent events, so many colleagues were particularly “engaged” and “excited” when representatives from companies like L’Oréal and other multinationals were present. Similarly to my daughters watching the K-Pop Netflix film.
At the same time, I was contacted on LinkedIn by a representative from an automotive company. They asked me for a quote to deliver a one-hour “lunch & learn” session (i had no idea what that meant until I googled it) for their employees, covering topics such as:
Why water has become such a critical global issue and why its importance continues to grow
An overview of key water-related risks facing industrial plants
The current state of water as a resource, both globally and regionally
A forward-looking perspective on emerging trends
A discussion around their Water Position Paper, including the KPIs they are tracking going forward
The budget they had available was around €400–€700. I estimated that preparing the session properly would require 16–20 hours of work. I said ok let’s send a proposal.
Beyond the economics, it was a valuable opportunity to better understand corporate water from the inside.
In the end, they decided to focus on another environmental topic instead of water.
However, I still chose to do the work internally, to get useful insight into how companies structure their water position papers, especially around KPIs, what they measure, how they define them, and what those metrics actually imply in practice.
I believe this is highly relevant for members of our community interested in water stewardship, corporate water risk, and industrial water strategy.
These corporate frameworks will increasingly shape investment decisions, and ultimately drive demand for water professionals, consultants, and technology providers to help deliver on those targets.
So here my findings.