Key Takeaways: 

• The Pacific Institute has launched a new strategic plan to accelerate global water resilience through 2026, with Corporate Water Stewardship as a key focus. 

• At UNGA79, the CEO Water Mandate highlighted the importance of private sector engagement in addressing escalating water challenges exacerbated by climate change. 

• The Water Resilience Coalition’s (WRC) CEO Circle meeting gathered global business leaders to discuss innovations such as the importance of Artificial Intelligence in basin diagnostics, Nature-Based Solutions, and collective action. 

• At the UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit, business leaders shared strategies for corporate water stewardship, leaving with actionable steps to build water resilience. 

• The full-day Corporate Water Stewardship event highlighted the private sector’s strong commitment to water action, featuring discussions on collective action, WASH, and digital technologies, with over 100 attendees in person. 

By: Jason Morrison, Head of the CEO Water Mandate and President of the Pacific Institute. 

The Pacific Institute has recently launched an ambitious new strategic plan to accelerate action on water resilience through 2026. Corporate Water Stewardship is highlighted as one of four Impact Areas capable of having significant impact on building water resilience globally. 

The CEO Water Mandate, a partnership between the Pacific Institute and the United Nations Global Compact, plays a central role in the Pacific Institute’s engagement with the private sector. The CEO Water Mandate’s thought leadership and global convening power are critical now more than ever, as the world grapples with escalating water-related challenges in the face of climate change. 

The 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) convened in New York amid undeniable climate change impacts. In recent months, Brazil has faced severe floods, while major tributaries of the Amazon River have seen record-low water levels. Around the globe, soaring temperatures are intensifying the water crisis. In fact, many of the most severe consequences of climate change are fundamentally linked to water. 

Against this backdrop, the work of the Pacific Institute-led CEO Water Mandate and Water Resilience Coalition have never been more urgent.  

For this reason, the CEO Water Mandate convened hundreds of business leaders from across the globe at UNGA79 in New York. Together, these leaders focused on one thing: driving action toward water resilience. 

This marked the Coalition’s largest ever gathering of CEOs and CSOs to date, with an exceptional commitment from our leaders towards our 2030 ambition. Discussions focused on: 

• Advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital technologies for advanced basin diagnostics and monitoring 

• Innovations in nature-based solutions and circular water management 

• Stakeholder collaborations to ensure equity and water security for workers and communities 

As we approach 2025, the halfway point toward the WRC’s 2030 goal of achieving collective positive water impact in 100 priority basins, it is clear that we must accelerate our efforts.  The Coalition’s goals for 2025 are: 

• Reach 75 WRC members. 

• Identify at least one collective action opportunity in each of the basins, have a basin champion for at least 25 basins, and establish local presence through partner organizations in twelve basins. 

• As part of the WRC Investment Portfolio, we have identified $1.7 billion in investment opportunities with market-rate financial returns, directly aligned with our 2030 ambition. In 2025, we have the opportunity to ramp up our financial commitment and accelerate our impact with targeted investments across three key investment themes: water resilience infrastructure, nature-based solutions, and access to clean water and sanitation. 

At the Leaders’ Summit 2024, the CEO Water Mandate and WRC again convened business leaders to focus on water action, providing a platform to share experiences in corporate water stewardship. As an outcome, the participants left with concrete steps to build water resilience and leverage available resources effectively. 

The CEO Water Mandate’s Corporate Water Stewardship event further underscored the private sector’s appetite for taking water action. With a packed room of over 100 in-person attendees, discussions covered collective action, access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), digital technologies, and the presentation of net positive water impact guidance documents. 

In partnership with the UN Global Compact, the CEO Water Mandate plays a vital role in one of the Pacific Institute’s key focus areas: Corporate Water Stewardship. 2025 will be a pivotal year for water action, marking a critical halfway point towards the Coalition’s 2030 ambitions. We will begin the year with the CEO Circle Meeting in January during the World Economic Forum, while COP30 will further solidify and expand the private sector’s commitment to water resilience and climate action.