Water and wastewater management is one of the more prevalent issues addressed in SASB Standards, appearing in 25 of 77 industries. However, in many cases, the issue can have diversified impacts on operating risk and financial performance from one industry to the next, and these differences are considered in standard-setting.
Water risk impacts are physical in nature, such as those driven by limited natural water availability, competition for water resources and watershed pollution. SASB Standards consider two high-level categories of physical water risk: access to water and water quality. Additionally, SASB Standards consider how the regulatory environment can affect physical water risks and a company’s ability to manage those risks.