CEO Water Mandate: Transparency Framework Phase One

Introduction

Transparency has been identified by endorsing companies and external stakeholders alike as a key issue in making the CEO Water Mandate a legitimate, meaningful initiative that advances best practice in sustainable water management in the private sector. As a result, the Mandate’s 2008-2009 work plan calls for the development of a Transparency Framework describing general expectations for transparency as it relates to both individual Mandate endorsers and the initiative as a whole. The ultimate goal of the CEO Water Mandate Transparency Framework is to establish transparency policies, objectives, and activities that are deemed valuable and credible by endorsers and key interests.

The Transparency Framework of the CEO Water Mandate is being developed in two phases: the first phase manifests itself in the form of this paper, the function of which is threefold:

1) Delineate the basic expectations of the CEO Water Mandate Secretariat regarding minimum transparency-related responsibilities of endorsers (Section III),

2) Lay out the broad architecture regarding how this unique Mandate element can be conceptualized and operationalized within the initiative (Sections II and IV),

3) Describe phase two of the Transparency Framework (Section V).

This document has undergone two rounds of revision based on input provided by members of the CEO Water Mandate Steering Committee, as well as by participants attending the second working conference of the CEO Water Mandate held on August 21-22, 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden.