Look at some of the stats quoted below in the story: Drought-related US agriculture losses valued at 12B this year--and expected to grow; by 2050, the UN expects one in four people worldwide to suffer chronic or reoccuring shortages; water tables are falling in key farming regions of the world...and climate is expected to exasperate our already worsening conditions.
We've also talked about sustainable investing with one of our great sponsors/partners, Calvert Funds. We invested money with them, some of which has gone into companies and technologies trying to clean and harvest water. We encourage you to do the same.
This story will run over two days. Please send us your comments or suggestions:
Investing in Our Water
Peter Zoe (not his real name) thinks about water every day. For the past five years, he’s been hauling water to his home in a water truck.
Zoe moved into his property in the California foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains 21 years ago. Five years ago, his well water dropped to such an extent that it became undrinkable, even with heavy treatment.
“We had a neighbor who moved in, built a four-million-dollar house, and drilled two new wells and had a 40,000-square-foot lawn with two huge swimming pools and a huge pond—just pumping water every day, all day,” says Zoe. “He did that for about six weeks until he ran the aquifer dry. All of us got affected. These things have a limited ability to recover.”
As Zoe’s situation demonstrates, lack of clean water can affect nearly everything we do. Drought-related US agricultural losses were valued at $12 billion this year—and climate change is expected to increase water shortages worldwide.
“Water tables are falling in several of the world’s key farming regions, including under the North China Plain, which produces nearly one third of China’s grain harvest; in the Punjab, which is India’s breadbasket; and in the US southern Great Plains, a leading grain-producing region,” notes Earth Policy Institute president Lester Brown.
And the United Nations projects that by 2050, one in four people worldwide will “live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water.”
A growing number of people are using their investment power to combat the scarcity of clean, fresh water. Investing with water issues in mind can have dual benefits: your investments will provide capital to companies working on solutions, while your portfolio may benefit from the growing demand for these solutions.
Investing for Water Security
Water-related socially responsible investing (SRI) generally takes one of two approaches to push for business solutions to the world water crisis.
First, investors can use their shareholder might to engage with companies that are wasting or polluting the world’s increasingly precious water resources, pushing them to act in a manner that preserves clean water for future generations.
Second, investors can put their money into vehicles that support water solutions, such as stock in companies that provide water sanitation technology and clean drinking water infrastructure. According to the World Health Organization, when it comes to drinking water sanitation and water resource management, “every dollar invested leads to up to eight dollars in [societal] benefits.”
In addition to delivering vital social and environmental solutions, good water practices just make good business sense—a 2011 report by investment research firm EIRIS suggests that water scarcity poses a “greater threat to business than the loss of any other natural resource, including oil.”
Invest in Targeted Mutual Funds
Investing in a socially responsible mutual fund can be a great way to put your money towards water solutions. Several mutual funds, including the New Alternatives Fund,Pax World Environmental Markets Fund, and Calvert Global Water Fund include investments in water-solution companies.
The New Alternatives Fund includes substantial investments in water utilities and sewage treatment.
“We invested in these utilities because we felt they were proactive in emphasizing water conservation and access to water in the communities they served,” says Murray Rosenblith, fund director.
Calvert’s Global Water Fund targets water-solution companies, and it also includes water solutions in its other funds.
“We see tremendous opportunity in the water market, given the limited supply of water and the increasing demands,” says Julie Frieder, senior sustainability analyst with Calvert.
In the past, the fund has included stock in companies like Kurita Water Industries, which is working on technoogy to reverse groundwater contamination, and Pentair Inc, which has worked in municipal desalination.
SRI mutual funds also use their shareholder power to engage with companies on water issues. For example, Calvert introduced a resolution at Fossil in 2012, asking the watch and clothing company to report on its risks associated with water scarcity and pollution.
“Leather sourcing and tanning are both water intensive, and Fossil had zero disclosure on how its operations affect water scarcity,” says Frieder. “Our hope is that by asking these questions, we would set in motion some internal action that ends up with improved water management, operation, and disclosure.”
The Fossil resolution received a 31 percent vote, a record amount of support..."
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