Water
Water is a critical input for industries such as agriculture, consumer packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, energy and mining, manufacturing, technology and textiles. All rely on a steady supply of clean water to deliver their products and services.
The growing demand for water has put a strain on the system, leading to:
While utilities and individual organisations are taking action on water usage, few see it as an area of opportunity. This is because water is key to so many aspects of a complex ecosystem in which actions happen in siloes, data isn't readily available and organisations often overlook the broader impacts, for example on carbon.
If you understand your global water footprint across your value chain and broader ecosystem, you can build security and resilience, capture the full value of water and drive systemic change. We've identified seven key areas for this opportunity:
Making water part of your ESG commitments
Mapping your water footprint across the ecosystem (products, processes, plants, geographies, industries) to reduce risks, identify value from water and make positive impacts
Creating new partnerships and collaborating to find new technologies and ways to impact at scale
Embracing innovation and technology at every step to scale up solutions that can make a material impact on society, the planet, and future business
Agreeing on metrics and measurement tools within your organisation
We can help you accelerate and scale innovation and transform your organisation to capture value and opportunity from water. From business models through partnerships and acquisitions across ecosystems, physical and digital technologies to measure progress, our end-to-end innovation capabilities and unique breadth of expertise in sustainability and the circular economy enable us to deliver results for your business and the planet.
Providing clean and safe drinking water
We helped Watersource develop an innovative decentralised water treatment facility that leverages the Internet of Things (IoT) and circular economy principles to empower water providers and deliver potable water to those who need it. The facility cleans water at the community level, a process that could revolutionise the way water is delivered around the world.
Transforming from selling products to digital services
We helped Veolia Water Technologies deliver more value to their customers using digital solutions and innovative business models. We’ve enabled them to move from selling products to selling services designed for digital innovation.
The untapped potential of water on decarbonisation
We surveyed leaders from 73 global organisations across sectors where water demand is intensive: drinks, fast-moving consumer goods, high-tech manufacturing, traditional manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals and found that leading global organisations could save 86 billion cubic meters of water – equivalent to the yearly water consumption of Japan – and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 12 million tonnes by 2030. This would provide up to a 25% of the annual GHG emissions cuts needed between now and 2030 to reach the 1.5°C global temperature climate goal set out in the Paris Agreement.
WIRED
Focus, start, share: how companies can win at innovation for sustainability
Find out how leaders from all sectors can innovate for sustainability and climate response, in more concrete and impactful ways.
THE WATER REPORT
The water industry in a hydrogen economy
There is an exciting future for hydrogen in the UK’s Net Zero strategy; the water industry must be a part of the evolve strategy to ensure a successful rollout.
TIPS FOR WATER INNOVATION
Six ways to increase your firm's water innovation
There is no single magic bullet for solving global water scarcity issues, however, industry partners can come together and innovate, each adding value and ultimately creating end-to-end solutions that benefit all.
ARTICLE
Brand Renew
PA Consulting’s Head of Sustainability, Jonquil Hackenberg, discusses how brands can think differently about water sustainability.
THE WATER REPORT
To Zero and Beyond: Charting the Path to 2050
PA Consulting’s Head of Sustainability, Jonquil Hackenberg, and energy and utilities expert, Greg Bradley, discuss the UK’s commitment to Net Zero, and the areas the water industry need to address to achieve this by 2050.
Let’s discuss your sustainability challenges and get you moving forward. Use the form below to get in touch, or connect with me on LinkedIn.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Explore the areas with the biggest environmental and commercial impact:
Sustainability
Businesses have the power and opportunity to transform for commercial and environmental success.
Carbon
Carbon equals revenue, not cost – embrace innovation, technologies and new business models to generate revenue.
Waste
Understand waste, design with waste in mind, adopt novel processes and technologies and collaborate across sectors to spot the business opportunities from waste.
Products
Businesses that design sustainability into their product lines are seeing increased revenues and greater consumer loyalty.
Packaging
Stop tackling packaging in isolation, collaborate across the lifecycle to reduce confusion and wasted effort.
