Significance
Limited water resources are the utmost concern to all stakeholders as water is essential to human life and a raw material of industries. Inefficient water management may cause water crisis both in terms of availability and quality. This can lead into a conflict with local communities and finally impact credibility of the Company.
Management Approach
The Company requires all business units to conduct the water risk assessment which one of the criteria is to determine whether the operational sites are located in a water-stressed area under the database of Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas of the World Resources Institute. The water risk assessment report as well as a mitigation plan are presented to the Risk Management Committee on a quarterly basis.
The Company’s water management covers the process of water withdrawal, water consumption, and water discharge. To achieve long-term target towards reduction of water footprint throughout product’s life cycle, the Company is expanding water management to the watershed level, starting from completing a water balance at each operational site.
Besides, the Company also closely monitors the quality of water discharge through both internal and external parties. The parameters, frequency and monitoring methods are basically varied based on the particular operational and local regulation requirements.