UK sustainability company Sustain has secured funding from the Technology Strategy Board to develop the UK’s first water footprint database for materials.
The database will, for the first time, allow manufacturing supply chains to measure and manage the water footprints of their global supply chains.
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In 2011, the drought in Texas reportedly cost $5.2 billion dollars to the local economy and with the 2012 droughts in Spain and the USA projected to push food prices up significantly, experts at Sustain say not enough is being done to measure and manage the problem.
Dr Craig Jones, Principle Associate at Sustain and creator of the world’s leading embodied carbon (footprint) database – The Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE), said:
“We’re thrilled to have been awarded this grant in order to develop the water footprint database, we believe it will be the starting point for many businesses to begin dealing with the issues of water security.”
Water footprinting is an approach that allows experts to measure and manage global water resources in a more sustainable manner. It helps to identify consumption in water scarce regions, where it will cause the largest impacts, and to increase the visibility of water related risks within supply chains.
Dr Jones added: “This database will be key in the development of successful water management strategies for businesses and Government bodies alike. To date, not enough is being done and this database will show companies where the risks lie within their supply chains, in order to manage the problem more efficiently.
Sustain began work on the development of the database in October which, when completed, could be applied to any supply chain to manage water-related risks.
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