Business water footprint accounting: a tool to assess how production of goods and services impacts on freshwater resources worldwide

This report aims to identify the current state of business water accounting and to design an accounting method for the business water footprint (BWF). It answers the following questions: (i) What are the main developments in sustainable business performance so far? (ii) What is the current state of business water accounting? (iii) How to design an accounting method for the business water footprint? And (iv) How to apply the method for existing situations? The term “business” is interpreted in this study in a broad sense, in order to include any form of enterprise, governmental or non-governmental organization or other form of business activity. Based on the methodology of the WF concept, this report designs an accounting method for the BWF. The method calculates the BWF per business unit, where a business unit is preferably a part of the business that produces one homogenous product (good or service) at one particular spot. The WF of a business unit is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used, directly and indirectly, to produce the goods and services delivered by that unit expressed in terms of the volume of freshwater use per year. The WF of a business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used directly or indirectly to run and support the business.

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