WBCSD Sustain Newsletter | Concrete Sustainability and Our New CEO Guide to Water

Water is not only key to the world’s stability, prosperity and peace, but is also essential for business to operate. WBCSD’s new CEO Guide to Water makes the case for executive business action on water and outlines key steps for business to take. The Guide, whose foreword is signed by executives from Olam, Diageo, Firmenich, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Veolia, aims to encourage widespread action by companies across the world, regardless of their sector and size. The Guide was launched at the 2018 World Water Forum, which hosted a Business Day for the first time. The Forum also saw 18 locally-based businesses, alongside WBCSD’s Global Network partner CEBDS, launch the Brazilian Business Commitment to Water Security, which aims to change the relationship between business and water in Brazil.

Recognition of responsibly sourced concrete
Concrete is the world’s most widely used building material. The Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC), of which WBCSD is a key contributor, created an easy tool which allows companies to measure and reduce their impacts, saving costs and increasing sustainability awareness across the concrete value chain. CSC has now been recognized as a responsible sourcing certification system for concrete, cement and aggregates by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and by Envision, a US infrastructure certification. CSC-certified companies will have an advantage when supplying development projects seeking BREEAM and Envision certifications.

Microsoft and Circular Economy on Panorama
Have you heard this month’s Panorama Podcasts? To mark International Women’s Day, we published WBCSD Managing Director Maria Mendiluce’s recent TedX speech on Circular Economy. Later this month, WBCSD President and CEO Peter Bakker sat down with Toni Townes-Whitley of Microsoft for a special edition podcast on sustainability at the tech giant. And for our 10th Panorama release earlier this week, we discussed how to feed nine billion people by 2050 within planetary Boundaries with Joanna Kane-Potaka of ICRISAT. Check them out now!

Dive into corporate governance @ the Reporting Exchange
We’ve come a long way on environmental regulations & workplace safety – but there’s more to do. Earlier this week WBCSD and the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB) released our second report as part of a series called Insights from the Reporting Exchange. The new research takes a closer look into opportunities for alignment in sustainability reporting, with a deeper dive into corporate governance requirements across 60 countries, building on the strong need for further harmonization that the first report in this series outlined. How will you respond?

Nominate your candidate for 30Under30
Do you know a rising star in sustainability? Greenbiz and WBCSD are looking for nominations for the 2018 class of "30 Under 30", showcasing the next generation of sustainable business leaders. The initiative aims to feature a diverse group from around the world, shining a light on up-and-coming young professionals working in sustainability inside large and small companies as well as government and the nonprofit sector. Nominate someone in your organization now!

Click here to sign up for WBCSD's monthly Sustain newsletter!