White Stag Consultancy

For a large Private Bank with more than CHF 600 billion in Assets Under Management (AuM), I’ve designed a water stewardship methodology to integrate water and climate risks into the investment strategy of the bank and steer its entire balance sheet onto a water-secure transition path.

This consisted first in analysing which sectors and investments were the most at risk from various water challenges such as groundwater depletion, droughts, floods, sea-level rise, change in rain-fall patterns, water pollution and other regulatory and reputation risks. It then pushed companies to undergo a water / climate risk assessment to determine their actual level of risk. Based on these assessments, vulnerable companies would have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to be set for improvement.

An engagement strategy was presented on how the bank could support its businesses to manage their water risks by reducing water inefficiencies, investing in water recycling or resilient infrastructures and on taking water-positive actions for their communities. An escalation strategy was also further designed for companies that showed an unwillingness to cooperate, a failure to take responsibility or to meet the required KPIs to remediate their situation. Several steps of escalation were designed to maximise value creation before a potential final divestment.

The bank recognise the great value of this methodology and has decided to implement it across its board.