The global water crisis is just as urgent as the climate crisis and investors want their leaders to start paying attention. That’s why 30 investors sent an open letter to their governments asking for more water risk accountability ahead of the UN 2023 Water Conference in New York.

The global water crisis is increasing as the impacts of climate change settle in and change how and where precipitation falls and our global water use crosses safe planetary boundaries. Investors are waking up to the realization that, while the focus on climate change risks has been beneficial, there needs to now be a focus on water risks that is just as urgent. to that end, over 30 investors sent an open letter to their governments asking for increased accountability.

The letter asks governments to use their “power to raise ambition and accelerate action to tackle the water crisis.” According to investors, their ability “to properly align financial decisions with the water security transition” is limited by:

• A lack of ambitious national and international water commitments alongside effective policy environments;
• Insufficient public investment in the solutions needed to reverse the current crisis and secure water for people and the environment; and
• A lack of standardized, comparable, internationally aligned corporate water disclosures.”

The finance leaders say they are committed to working with governments “to ensure policy mechanisms are developed and implemented to transition to a water secure economy by 2030 or sooner,” as they urged governments to increase collective actions in response to the crisis.