Water: Emerging Risks and Opportunities Summit

by Samantha Guidon*

On February 8, 2013, with an imminent Winter Storm Nemo on the horizon, over 250 industry leaders and key players in the water sector came together at Goldman Sachs in New York City to begin the dialogue on addressing water risks throughout the country. Students from the Master of Environmental Studies at the University of Pennsylvania joined the Wharton Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (Wharton IGEL) team in attending this event to gain key perspectives from leaders in the water sector. Entitled “Water: Emerging Risks and Opportunities Summit,” the conference identified areas in need of improvement and discussed opportunities from various points of view. A welcoming address from David Solomon, Co-Head of the Investment Banking Division at Goldman Sachs, established the overall goals of bringing together capital, technology, and policy in order to determine best management practices within the water sector.

The Food-Water-Energy Nexus: A Global Issue

The global population is projected to hit eight billion people within 20 years. With a growing population, dramatically more food, water and energy is needed. Yet even today, food and water supplies are becoming increasingly stressed in the face of climate change, development and unsustainable natural resources consumption. Recent drought-caused food price hikes have provided a glimpse into what the resource-constrained future would look like without significant action.

The concept of the food-water-energy nexus refers to how each one of those things affects the other. Water is the most important part of this nexus, because it cannot be created or substituted. Water also directly affects both of the other items. For example, most forms of energy production require substantial amounts of water for cooling and mining. Agriculture accounts for more than 70 percent of global water withdrawals. By comparison, around 16 percent of global water withdrawals are for the industrial sector. More than three billion people will be living in water-stressed areas by 2020.

oikosPenn Student Reporter posts Coming Soon…!

Today, April 26th 2012, eight students from the University of Pennsylvania are reporting live from the Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership’s Fifth Annual Conference-Workshop entitled Greening the Supply Chain: Best Business Practices and Future Trends held at Huntsman Hall. The line-up of speakers includes representatives from the public and private sector. The students are part of the first accredited Oikos chapter in North America (just announced yesterday!).

Stay tuned as the student reporters publish posts that cover the discussions held at the Conference. They have also done in-depth interviews with keynote speakers and industry leaders that will be available shortly.

Follow the conversation on Twitter through #IGEL, @WhartonIGEL and @oikosPenn!