Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is entering a new phase as the Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) offers corporate partners a return on water for their commitment to CSR. “More companies recognize the need to factor in water consumption when assessing their environmental footprint,” says Margie Gardener, C.E.O. of BEF.
The innovative Water Restoration Certificate Program by BEF reportedly returned over seventeen million gallons of water to damaged watersheds and streams in the United States. Input from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation provided BEF with information on locations where water allotments would make the most sustainable impact on endangered ecosystems.
BEF, along with its water trust partners , is engaging water rights holders in the western United States in the movement toward a new and improved vision of corporate social responsibility. Water rights holders can contribute their coveted water allotments to restorative projects.
According to a report published by the CSR Wire, each water credit is worth 1,000 gallons of water. This unique effort by BEF merges two issues that are notoriously hard to handle in the world of water resource management. Water rights in the western United States are legally binding. Water rights were established by agreements made before factors such as global climate change, carbon gas emissions, and environmental degradation became part of the sustainability equation.
Managing a program to strategically ally corporate private sector investors with water rights holders represents a breakthrough in water management that other government actors are still navigating with caution.
Ever since corporate social responsibility became a buzzword in terms of investments, major companies have rushed to update their websites and annual sustainability reports to reflect best-practices methods in water conservation.
The BEF program for corporate social responsibility moves beyond just a water conservation approach. Now, there is an alliance of private sector parties with other people in power, water rights holders. In essence, either participant in the arrangement can leverage influence with other.
Hopefully, the term “corporate social responsibility” will continually expand to include other novel efforts of engaging investors, corporations, and private sector parties in the effort to cope with the adverse effects of poor water resource management.
Fragile freshwater ecosystems and fisheries are compromised every day due to decreasing water flows to support these systems. If these natural resources and environments continue to degrade, the people and ultimately the organizations that they support will suffer from dwindling profit margins. And who can afford that?
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