John Sabo: Corporate Water Stewardship: Why Bundling Will Replace Partnerships
By John Sabo, director, Arizona State University’s Future H2O
You already know that some of the world’s biggest corporations are at the forefront of innovation in water stewardship. Corporate responsibility has evolved rapidly, from its initial focus on reputational risk management to today, when it’s on the verge of catalyzing a tidal wave of change. Companies are literally rebuilding watersheds to ensure their operations and neighboring stakeholders have a future of abundant water.
But to get this work done at scale, these corporations need strategy, a data broker and a neutral convener. Future H2O is leading the charge with companies like Coca Cola, Dow Chemical and Levi Strauss & Co to develop those strategies, bundle corporate investment, and create a boundary space for companies to align the strategy with public institutions.
Linger with me on this word “bundling” for a moment, because I think it will supplant “partnership” as the way corporate water stewardship will get done going forward. To impact whole watersheds, companies need to come together and bundle investments and bet big. Coca-Cola, yes — but also bundling investment with Miller-Coors, Intel and Facebook, for instance. Bundling allows bigger public funding as well as work at the scale of whole watersheds, instead of projects. Bundling will allow us to have true metrics of success, which should be centered on the question: how well is the watershed working?
Bottom line: Look for bundling to become an essential part of corporate water investment over the next decade.
Agree? Disagree? Want to follow up? Email me.
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