Deloitte and Carbon Disclosure Project Announce Agreement to Drive CDP Water Disclosure

Collaboration will aim to raise awareness of the business risks and opportunities around water

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Aug 01, 2011, 08:15 ET

NEW YORK, Aug. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) and Deloitte Consulting LLP in the United States (together, "Deloitte") in collaboration with Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), an independent not-for-profit organization, today announced an agreement to drive CDP Water Disclosure. The goal of CDP Water Disclosure, launched in November 2009, is to help investors, companies, governments, and other stakeholders in their decision making by making meaningful, systematic, and comparable reporting on water usage a standard corporate practice globally.

CDP, through its Water Disclosure Report, provides critical data from the world's largest corporations to inform the global marketplace on water-related investment risks and commercial opportunities. In 2011, CDP has requested information on the risks and opportunities companies face in relation to water on behalf of 354 investors (up from 137 in 2010), with assets of US$43 trillion.

"Water scarcity and declining quality present challenges that affect governments, businesses, investors, and individuals," said Marcus Norton, Head of CDP Water Disclosure. "Most companies do not yet have a good understanding of how changing patterns of water availability will affect their businesses or of how their businesses affect water resources. CDP Water Disclosure, strengthened with Deloitte's global reach and thought leadership on water stewardship, will continue to accelerate the development of standards around water reporting and to offer businesses, the investment community, and other stakeholders much-needed insight on critical issues."

The agreement between Deloitte and CDP will entail collaboration on water stewardship thought leadership and will leverage insight gleaned from DTTL member firms' years of work with some of the world's largest companies.

"Water use and water scarcity have emerged as critical business issues for many industries, and as a result, for investors," said Nick Main, Global Leader, Sustainability, DTTL. "CDP Water Disclosure is a groundbreaking program that aims to bring transparency to the issue of water use. This initiative provides a tremendous opportunity for Deloitte and CDP to catalyze broad action toward sustainable water management by accelerating the development of standard measures and performance benchmarks around water use."

William Sarni, Director and Practice Leader, Enterprise Water Strategy at Deloitte Consulting LLP in the United States and the author of a recently released book entitled Corporate Water Strategies, added, "The fact that most companies are unsure of their water footprint within their supply chain underlines the need for an enterprise water strategy. With many companies, this strategy development process reveals opportunities for new products and technologies. We are confident that this relationship with CDP will help enable us to bring water stewardship to the forefront of business strategy and drive broad-scale innovation along the way."

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and Deloitte Consulting LLP in the United States.

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms.

Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and deep local expertise to help clients succeed wherever they operate. Deloitte's approximately 170,000 professionals are committed to becoming the standard of excellence.

About CDP Water Disclosure

The Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) is an independent not-for-profit organization holding the largest database of primary corporate climate change and water information in the world. Some 3,000 organizations across the world's largest economies now measure and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, water usage and assessment of climate change and water risk and opportunity through CDP, in order that they can set reduction targets and make performance improvements. This data is gathered on behalf of institutional investors, purchasing organizations and government bodies and made available for integration into business and policy decision making. For more information visit www.cdproject.net.

CDP Water Disclosure will provide critical data in relation to water from the world's largest corporations to inform the global market place on investment risk and commercial opportunity. This data will provide valuable insight into the strategies deployed by many of the largest companies in the world in relation to water and will be used to help drive investment towards sustainable water use. To find out more please visit www.cdproject.net/water-disclosure.

SOURCE Deloitte