AWS convened a side event at the UN 2023 Water Conference on 23 March 2023 to discuss the power of a multi-stakeholder standard to drive effective, verifiable collaboration between business, civil society, and government.
Co-conveners of the event were:
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
Global Water Partnership (GWP)
International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
WaterAid
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Apple
Diageo
Dole
H&M Group
Water Action Agenda
Our goal is for adoption of the AWS Standard – the water-focused sustainability standard – to be the norm in several business sectors by 2030, creating a global network of tens of thousands of sites making meaningful, verifiable contributions to the sub-targets within SDG 6.
Water Action Agenda commitment: Credible, verified private sector action on SDG6
Key issues discussed
The AWS System – how it helps corporations, governments and NGOs achieve and verify progress against common water goals.
AWS Members shared case studies demonstrating engagement with the AWS System to drive verifiable progress at business sites and promote impactful collaborations with stakeholders in their catchments.
How water stewardship enables private sector leadership to address shared challenges and achieve common good outcomes.
How engaging with AWS to better understand water stewardship may provide strategic benefits to national governments, multilateral agencies, businesses and NGOs.
Overall, the event highlighted the importance of water stewardship and the role of the AWS Standard in driving effective, verifiable corporate action on water.
Key recommendations for action
Water stewardship is an opportunity for the private sector to take action to address shared water challenges and achieve progress in meeting the targets outlined in SDG 6.
The AWS Standard provides a systematic approach to implementing water stewardship.
Implementing the AWS Standard enables business sites to become ‘collective action ready’, creating opportunities for collaboration between business, civil society and government.
Certification against the AWS Standard enables credible claims by major water users.
This process provides validation that actions are meaningful and have been implemented successfully, guarding against ‘bluewash’.
Government incentives for credible and verified water stewardship can build confidence and help to scale common good outcomes.
For more information, visit: https://a4ws.org/un-water-2023/
