On Thursday 3rd December, The Rivers Trust hosted “Water Stewardship Through the Corporate Lens”, a unique webinar bringing ENGOs, catchment partnership hosts, government agencies, and corporate representatives together to discuss the opportunities around water stewardship. Over 100 people attended, representing a diverse range of organisations.

In partnership with the Catchment Based Approach, the WaterCoG EU project, and the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation, leading practitioners shared insights on why businesses become involved in collective action on water. They discussed water risks for UK corporates; climate-related financial disclosures under CDP; reporting on water responsibility; and the Courtauld Commitment 2025, delivering presentations and answering audience questions. The event culminated in a valuable panel discussion featuring representatives from Co-op, Coca-Cola, Nestlé Waters and Tesco.

Water stewardship is a way for stakeholders, such as the 108 partnerships under the Catchment Based Approach, the private sector, and local communities to work collectively to improve the sustainability of the water environment and business. It is an established approach and will be even more relevant as businesses become more involved in climate action. Taking a joint approach to tackle issues affecting water resilience addresses shared risks and delivers shared benefits at scale.

Christine Colvin, Director of Partnerships & Communications, said: “Taking a collaborative, catchment-based approach to water stewardship is central to The Rivers Trust vision. In order to effect change at the necessary scale to fight the double threat of climate change and nature degradation, partnership working will be fundamental. It is hoped that Thursday’s event will be a stepping stone to further webinars on different aspects of water stewardship and collaborative climate action in the new year.”

The full event recording is available to view here.