Building on the success of the 2018 Water Summit in London, which brought together 29 global Leading Speakers and 185 participants, including 85 C-Suite delegates, this year’s highly anticipated event is supported by AB InBev and the global Valuing Water Initiative and will be hosted by the Deutsche Borse in Frankfurt and will focus on the business and investment risks and opportunities linked to water and climate change.
 
There is a growing understanding that climate-related risks go beyond exposure to fossil fuels and that the financial impacts of the climate crisis will primarily come through water. But current approaches to climate related financial risks are not handling water well, and current approaches to water are not handling climate risks well.
 
This year’s summit will highlight the need for financial institutions to adopt a new approach to water – one that incorporates a stronger approach to risk management while also supporting enhanced opportunities to mobilize debt and equity to invest and profit from the need for more resilient societies and economies.
 
The 2019 Summit will also focus on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and how it needs more tools that can help with water-related scenarios and that can translate risks into financial impacts. Current ESG approaches do not take into account the contextual dimensions of water Therefore the summit will also look at new, more robust approaches to integrate adaptation to climate change and account for risk, response and opportunity.
 
With water stress increasing, the Water Summit 2019 will provide investors and corporate leaders with another perspective – showing how investing in climate and water smart opportunities can waterproof their businesses and assets, contribute to climate resilience, enhance the health of freshwater ecosystems, and boost progress towards achieving SDG6 (Water for All) – a target many of the world’s leading companies have signed up to.