The Water Resilience Coalition And The World Economic Forum's Water Futures Community Join Forces To Accelerate Business Action For Global Water Resilience

Collaboration mobilizes Fortune 200 leadership and global dialogue to transform water challenges into competitive advantage

Davos, Switzerland – The Water Resilience Coalition (WRC) and the World Economic Forum today announced a strategic memorandum of understanding to mobilize business leadership and dialogue toward urgent water challenges facing communities and economies worldwide.

The WRC is an initiative of the CEO Water Mandate, a partnership between the Pacific Institute and the United Nations Global Compact, co-chaired by Ecolab.

The agreement brings together the WRC’s 40 member companies—representing $5 trillion in combined market value—with the World Economic Forum’s unmatched global dialogue platform. Together, the organizations will mobilize more partners and multi-stakeholder actors with a priority to drive basin-level collaborations and shape thought leadership in alignment with SDG6 and global goals for the 2030 Agenda.

Water scarcity currently impacts 3.6 billion people globally and threatens critical business operations across multiple sectors. Companies increasingly recognize that water resilience is a driver of tangible business value through operational efficiency, risk mitigation, market access, stakeholder confidence and resilient communities.

The collaboration will focus on four integrated pillars:

• Elevate water resilience on global agendas.
• Engage and mobilize business leaders and companies.
• Support collective, basin-level action.
• Advance thought leadership.

 “Leading companies are reframing water from risk to opportunity. Water resilience drives operational efficiency, opens new markets, and strengthens community relationships and ecosystems. This collaboration ensures business leaders have the platforms, tools, and collective action models to turn water stewardship into measurable business value.”
Matt Kistler, CEO – Water Resilience Coalition

“The water crises of too little, too much and too polluted water must move from a siloed risk to a strategic systems priority for business leaders,” said Tania Strauss, Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum. “The Forum’s platform for dialogue for multistakeholder and market-led cooperation, together with the Water Resilience Coalition agenda on 100 priority basins, will create an opportunity to embed water resilience into the core of how companies create long-term value in an increasingly volatile world.”
Tania Strauss, Head, Sustainable Growth and People, Member of the Executive Committee – World Economic Forum