WRI Aqueduct Overall Water Risk Map Launched On Bloomberg

Water risk information now available to financial professionals worldwide

This week, the World Resources Institute (WRI) announced the integration of the WRI Aqueduct Overall Water Risk map with Bloomberg’s interactive mapping platform, BMAP. It is available to the more than 320,000 subscribers of the Bloomberg Professional service. Integrating Aqueduct with Bloomberg’s BMAP tool will give influential decision makers access to the world’s most comprehensive, detailed global water-risk information alongside Bloomberg’s proprietary visual commodities data.

“Water is essential for all life. It gives us the energy, food, and economic growth we need. But we face a growing freshwater crisis -- impacts from water-related risks have already cost ecosystems, communities, and businesses untold billions,” Betsy Otto, director of WRI’s Water Initiative, said. “More and more organizations are recognizing this reality and taking action to reduce their water-related risks.”

Aqueduct provides the most current, comprehensive, and high-resolution (15,000 sub-basins) global water risk mapping tool available. Aqueduct’s overall water risk map, the layer incorporated into BMAP, heat maps water risk calculated by using indicators that consider how much water may be available in a given location, the general quality of that water, and what potential regulatory and reputational risks are associated with a site. Demand is projected to increase in the coming years and decades for limited, unpredictable, and often polluted water resources – especially among businesses – so the need for water risk mapping and mitigation will likely grow.

"Identifying and quantifying water risk is a crucial component of Bloomberg's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) platform,” Curtis Ravenel, Bloomberg’s Global Head of Sustainability, said. “As investors have become more serious about measuring ESG business risk, many companies have responded by increasing disclosure, with water becoming one of the most disclosed ESG metrics. However, understanding water risk goes beyond the numbers and needs geographically specific framing and analysis. Integrating WRI's Aqueduct water risk map onto Bloomberg's BMAP tool is a powerful complement to Bloomberg's data, analytics and research on water and how it impacts the world of business and finance."

For the third consecutive year, the World Economic Forum ranked water among the top three global risks to social stability, businesses, food and energy production, and more. Managing and mitigating those risks is a massive, ongoing process, but with the help of Aqueduct, Bloomberg Professional service users can now better understand water-related risks to their organizations and investments.

About World Resources Institute
WRI is a global research organization that spans more than 50 countries, with offices in the United States, China, India, Brazil, and more. Our more than 450 experts and staff work closely with leaders to turn big ideas into action to sustain our natural resources—the foundation of economic opportunity and human well-being. For more information, visit www.wri.org

Aqueduct is sponsored by Bloomberg, as well as Goldman Sachs Co., General Electric, Skoll Global Threats Fund, and Shell.

About Bloomberg
Bloomberg, the global business and financial information and news leader, gives influential decision makers a critical edge by connecting them to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas. The company’s strength – delivering data, news and analytics through innovative technology, quickly and accurately – is at the core of the Bloomberg Professional service, which provides real time financial information to more than 319,000 subscribers globally. Headquartered in New York, Bloomberg employs more than 15,500 people in 192 locations around the world. For more information, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/