This Business Guide to Water Valuation provides business-specific guidance on the main concepts and techniques associated with water valuation. The intention is to arm business managers with the knowledge and critical eye needed to work with valuation specialists. This will help managers commission, manage and review water valuation studies, as well as make the best use of the findings.

The Guide will also serve a wider audience interested in water valuation, including policy-makers and valuation experts, in order to facilitate consistency in use of approaches and terminology for future water valuation studies.

The Guide draws upon 25 business-related valuation cases from 10 different sectors that illustrate how water valuation can be used to reach different goals, and that help explain the concepts and techniques. It builds on theWBCSD’s Water Valuation: Building the business case publication, which sets out the international trend towards valuing water and the business case for water valuation. The business case arises from investigating water issues with a value-based lens. Key business case arguments include enhancing decision making, maintaining and enhancing revenues, reducing costs, managing risks and enhancing reputation.

The Guide also complements the WBCSD’s Guide to Corporate Ecosystem Valuation, which provides a generic approach for businesses to incorporate the value of ecosystem services and environmental externalities within their decision-making. It does this by providing water-specific recommendations, advice and examples for each stage of a CEV.

It is also complemented by a number of detailed case studies, that showcase how different companies have valued water and why.