Water Management Pact brings together companies and national entities for a more efficient management in Portugal

CATÓLICA-LISBON, in partnership with a group of companies and national entities, has just founded the 'Water Management Pact', an initiative that aims to place the issue of Water at the centre of the national agenda.

The initiative aims to promote greater awareness, knowledge and dissemination of good practices to make resource management more efficient and prevent risks associated with water management.

Among the founding entities of the 'Water Management Pact' are the Grupo Esporão, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Jerónimo Martins, L'Oréal Portugal, Microsoft, Pestana Hotel Group, Scubic, Sugal, SuperBock Group, Tintex Textiles and Veolia, as well as the accelerators BGI and Beta-i.

Under the Pact, these entities assumed a set of commitments that are systematised in a Manifesto and Commitment for Water Management in Portugal. This document highlights the value and importance of water and the need to rethink traditional operating models to contribute to the ecological transformation of a sector that is indispensable to the growth of the economy. It also highlights the challenge Portugal faces in addressing the issue of water management from an integrated perspective, placing it at the centre of decision-making for any company, sector, or entity, whether at a local or national level.

This initiative aims to promote greater awareness, deepening of knowledge and dissemination of good practices within the adhering entities and in Portugal in the following areas:

• Water as a valuable resource in the ecological transformation of the country and the impact on health, the economy and society;
• The need for adaptation and acceleration of mitigation measures in the context of climate change (scarcity and pollution risks);
• The importance of water reuse in the sustainable development of industry and cities.
• Best practices for sustainable water management;
• Integration strategy and cooperation between the private sector and the public sector and authorities (the Green Deal vision).

The 'Water Management Pact' follows on from the 'Water Summit' event organised in June 2020 by the Center for Responsible Business & Leadership of CATÓLICA-LISBON, with the aim of providing all participants with a clear understanding of the challenges associated with the use of water for the business world, in an integrated logic and along value chains. From the conclusion of this event, the various founding entities, understood that a coordinated effort was justified to try to transform this initiative into something more permanent and structured.

It is the conviction of the current partners in this initiative that, due to its intrinsic merit, many other entities may join this Pact so that, in a spirit of collaboration and with an awareness of the urgency of the matter, solutions may be found to resolve the challenge of water scarcity in Portugal.

Companies interested in joining this initiative and the Movement to find solutions for resolving the challenge of water scarcity in Portugal may contact the CATÓLICA-LISBON for more information, via email from the Centre for Responsible Business and Leadership: crb.clsbe@ucp.pt.

For more information, please check the page of this initiative.