Gone are the days when your corporate concerns end at your property’s fence. Companies everywhere are learning that natural-resource changes even hundreds of miles away can impact operations quarter after quarter. Disruptions to water supply and quality in food and agriculture endanger not just your company’s performance, but also can harm your customers if they don’t have access to milk, eggs, cheese and other staples. You see these realities in your supply chain, deliveries, access to raw materials, and so much more.
As a corporate partner in your community, you have the ability to make positive changes in your operations that benefit your performance and make your company sustainable into the future. IEG is your partner in this effort. We follow proven sustainability guidelines because we know that the natural resource “supply chain” is fragile and finite. According to Ceres in its groundbreaking report, Feeding Ourselves Thirsty, food and agriculture “uses more than 70% of the world’s fresh water to grow crops, feed livestock and process ingredients”—so the industry sees first when fresh water sources are threatened. In addition, “The U.N. projects that global demand for water will increase by 20-30% by 2050 in order to meet the food needs of a projected population of 9.8 billion.” (source here)
Ceres has pioneered corporate sustainability practices with regard to natural-resource management. It studies water risk at the regional, national, and global level. Many global companies have participated in studies to analyze their impact on water supplies and basins. IEG supports this effort and can help you improve your corporate decision-making. These are not punitive changes, they are efficiency improvements and new technologies paired with monitoring and a higher-level corporate awareness. We are excited about the new Epiphany solutions for this reason: They are instrumental in improving outcomes with regard to water risk, environmental mitigation and cost.