The Valuing Water Finance Initiative is a global investor-led effort to engage companies with a high water footprint to value and act on water as a financial risk and drive the necessary large-scale change to better protect water systems. The initiative calls on companies to meet Corporate Expectations for Valuing Water that align with the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for Water (SDG6) and the actions laid out in the Ceres Roadmap 2030.

Investors: Join the Initiative Here

We are facing an existential and multi-faceted threat to our freshwater resources, across the U.S. and globally. In addition to the danger this poses to human and ecosystem health, the global water crisis is also a systemic, far-reaching, financial risk to nearly all economies. The water crisis is exacerbated by climate change, making it even more urgent to drive capital market actors – including large institutional investors and major corporations – to address water issues.  

Launched in August 2022, Ceres’ Valuing Water Finance Initiative is a new global investor-led effort to engage 72 companies with a high water footprint to value and act on water as a financial risk and drive the necessary large-scale change to better protect water systems. These companies, while at different stages of their water journeys, all have the potential to better steward and protect freshwater resources within their business operations and global supply chains to drive meaningful, global change. Currently, more than 90 investors representing $17 trillion in assets have committed to engage with companies. This initiative continues to grow as the private sector increasingly recognizes the water crisis's material risks. 

Using new research and analysis as the foundation, Ceres co-developed — with members of the Valuing Water Finance Task Force, plus, other investor and NGO partners — a set of clear action steps called the Corporate Expectations for Valuing Water. This set of six, science-based, actionable expectations provide investors with the framework required to help move companies to strategically address water risk, aligning with the United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for Water (SDG6) and the actions laid out in the Ceres Roadmap 2030. Broadly, investors will engage companies around their:  

  • Actions to ensure current practices don’t impact water quality and water availability  
  • Integration of water management into business processes, including board oversight and policy engagement   
  • Efforts to ensure access to the essentials – water and sanitation – across company value chains 
  • Protection of ecosystems is critical to the freshwater supplies that their businesses depend on 

For more information, view our frequently asked questions for companies.

The Valuing Water Finance Initiative builds on Ceres’ decades of leadership and success in building investor and corporate climate leadership through our powerful networks and engagement initiatives. Through the influential global Climate Action 100+ initiative and many other engagements, Ceres has moved hundreds of companies toward climate action and is replicating that success in tackling the water crisis.  

Ceres has partnered on this effort with the Government of the Netherlands, which leads the global Valuing Water Initiative

Investor Signatories

Addenda Capital Inc.
A.S.R. Asset Management
Achmea Investment Management
Adrian Dominican Sisters
AJF Capital Management
Amundi Asset Management
As You Sow
AustralianSuper Pty Ltd
Aviva Investors
Bailard
BMO Global Asset Management
Bon Secours Mercy Health
Boston Common Asset Management, LLC
Breckinridge Capital Advisors
Brunel Pension Partnership
California Public Employees' Retirement System
California State Controller's Office
California State Teachers' Retirement System
Cardano
Cathay Financial Holdings
Cathay Life Insurance Co., Ltd.
Cetera Advisors
Change Finance
Christian Brothers Investment Services, Inc.
CommonSpirit Health
Council on Ethics of the Swedish National Pension Funds (AP 1-4)
Clearbridge Investments
Congregation of St. Joseph
Dana Investment Advisors
Daughters of Charity, Province of St. Louise
DNB Asset Management
Dominican Sisters - Grand Rapids
Downing LLP
DWS Group
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Edentree Investment Management
Environment Agency Pension Fund
EOS at Federated Hermes
Ethos Engagement Pool International
Ethical Partners Funds Management
Ethos Foundation
Felician Sisters of North America
Fidelity International
First Affirmative
Folksam
Franklin Templeton
Government Employees Pension Fund of South Africa
Illinois State Treasurer
Impax Asset Management PLC
Insight Investment
JLens Investor Network
J. Stern & Co.
KBI Global Investors
La Banque Postale Asset Management
Legal and General Investment Management
Local Authority Pension Fund Forum
Lombard Odier Investment Managers
Man Group
Manulife Investment Management
Maryknoll Sisters
Matthews Asia
Mercy Investment Services, Inc.
Miller/Howard Investments, Inc.
Mirova
NEI Investments
New York City Office of the Comptroller
NN Group
Nia Impact Capital
Northern LGPS
Northern Trust Asset Management
Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment
OPTrust
PGGM
Pictet Group
Raiffeisen Schweiz
Resona Asset Management Co., Ltd.
Riverwater Partners
Robeco
Rockefeller Capital Management
SCOR SE
SEB Investment Management AB
Seventh Generation Interfaith Coalition for Responsible Investment
Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia
Sisters of Mary Reparatrix
Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque, Iowa
Socially Responsible Investment Coalition
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management
Sustainable Advisors Alliance, LLC
Sustainable Insight Capital Management
Swedbank Robur
Terra Alpha Investments
The Episcopal Church
Trillium Asset Management
UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust
UOB Asset Management
Vancity Investment Management
Veritas Investment Partners
Vermont Pension Investment Committee
Water Asset Management
Zevin Asset Management

Task Force Members

The Valuing Water Finance Task Force serves as an advisory body for the Valuing Water Finance Initiative. Task Force members, who have experience engaging companies on water related topics, together guide the priorities of the initiative by providing feedback and support to ensure the initiative is driven by investor priorities and is achieving its objectives. 

AustralianSuper 
Former California State Controller Betty T. Yee 
California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) 
Cardano
Cathay Financial Holdings 
Franklin Templeton Investments 
Government Employees Pension Fund of South Africa (GEPF) 
Illinois State Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs 
Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) 
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander 
PGGM Investments 
Sweden’s Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) 

Experts