Catalyze October

REDUCE, REPLENISH, AND
REPORT
Eliza Roberts
The costs that we need to improve global water infrastructure globally are
staggering. There's a range of different numbers, but they're in the trillions
and they're really expected to rise in time. And to put this in perspective, if
you look at the US alone, each day, 6 billion gallons of water are lost to aging
leaking pipes. That's roughly 14% of our daily consumption. So we know we
have a challenge, we know it's increasing, we know we all depend on water
to survive, and thus there's a really important role for all of us, particularly
companies to play in protecting freshwater resources for future generations.
That is why Microsoft co-founded the Water Resilience Coalition, which I'll
refer to as the WRC, and that's a CEO-led initiative that's a part of the UN
global compact with a goal to reduce water stress by 2050. So we joined the
Water Resilience Coalition in 2005 and we're still an active member. And
then as a part of that, we also set a commitment to be water positive by
2030. So water positive is a new term. It still requires more clarity and
guidance in this space, and we're helping to develop that.
In the meantime, I want to share a bit about
what water-positive means to Microsoft. So in
Microsoft Water positive means, we will
reduce our water use intensity across our
operations. The water we use per megawatt
of energy used for operations, we will
replenish water in water stress regions where
we work more than we consume. By 2030, we
will provide 1.5 million people with access to
clean water and sanitation services, and we'll
drive innovation and digitization of water and
engage in water policy for today.
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