SP Expands Water Stewardship Program in 2024

Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) is pleased to share an update on the next phase of its multi-phase water stewardship initiative being developed in collaboration with The Water Council (TWC), an internationally acclaimed nonprofit organization dedicated to freshwater innovation.

Co-Chaired by Ford Motor Company and Toyota Motor North America, SP’s Water Stewardship Work Group provides a forum to facilitate automotive OEM and supplier dialogue and action on common approaches, tools and resources to support advancing water stewardship across the automotive value chain.

In recent years SP has collaborated with The Water Council (TWC) to support SP’s goals for improving the water stewardship performance of its member organizations through the development of a leading water stewardship program for the sector and its supply chain.

In 2022, SP and TWC developed a Water Stewardship Action Matrix intended as a first step in helping automotive companies build comprehensive water stewardship programs and outlining recommended actions so that suitable data, information and risk assessment processes are in place if and when companies choose to directly mitigate water-related risks and report those actions and outcomes to key external stakeholders.

In 2023, SP and TWC collaborated again on the development of a Water Stewardship Strategy Framework introducing a strategic framework and industry-driven water stewardship ambition that individual companies in the automotive value chain may align with and act on.

Throughout 2024, SP and TWC will continue their work together to develop a Water Stewardship Capacity Building System that supports alignment around the Water Stewardship Strategy Framework and use of the site-specific Water Stewardship Action Matrix. With limited time and bandwidth, suppliers would benefit from customized assistance to understand and apply the water stewardship best practices from across the sector and found within SP’s toolbox of resources.  Materials to be developed will be available online and housed with other SP water-related content. Additionally, educational webinars and in-person workshops will be scheduled throughout the year.

The project will also focus on Core Water Metrics Identification and Mapping this year.  This effort will help promote understanding and alignment around key water-related actions and metrics required for credible, transparent external reporting to OEMs, investors, customers and other key stakeholders.  The general principle of this work will be to help make credible reporting as easy as possible for suppliers while providing a foundation on which to build more mature water stewardship programs in the future.

To learn more about SP’s water stewardship activities and opportunities to participate as an SP member, please get in touch.