Pacific Institute: Net Positive Water Impact and Corporate Water Stewardship

The Challenge

Water resources worldwide face mounting pressure from rising consumption, pollution, and climate change. The UN CEO Water Mandate’s Water Resilience Coalition developed a 2050 Pledge committing corporations to achieving net positive water impact in the water-stressed basins where they operate, but the pledge needed a rigorous conceptual framework to translate ambition into measurable action. Separately, corporate investments in onsite water systems like non-potable reuse were growing in places like Silicon Valley, but these private investments risked operating in isolation from the public water systems and long-term regional planning they needed to complement.

Our Role

In 2021, Ross, alongside our partner Pegasys, built framework underpinning the Positive Water Impact pledge, ensuring corporate commitments could be tied to measurable improvements in water stewardship. In 2023, the team piloted reporting requirements with a multinational industrial water user to identify needed refinements to operational guidance. In a parallel effort, Ross Strategic partnered with the Pacific Institute to design and facilitate the Silicon Valley Onsite Water System Working Group, leading four facilitated meetings with over 20 representatives spanning companies, utilities, public agencies, NGOs, and community groups. The process built shared understanding across sectors, surfaced areas of alignment and tension, and developed a decision-support framework for coordinated investments in onsite water systems.