NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

AFP – Some 45 corporate chiefs attending the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development on Monday pledged to make water security a strategic priority and called for decisive action by governments.

Speaking on behalf of the 45 CEOs, Igal Aisenberg, chief executive of Israel’s Netafim micro-irrigation company, urged concerted action by governments, the private sector, civil society and others “to tackle the global crisis in water access, quality and sanitation.”

Committing to water sustainability were chiefs of global companies such as Pepsico, Coca Cola, Nestle, Saint-Gobain, Royal Dutch Shell, Akzo Nobel, Bayer, Heineken and Pernod Ricard.

All have endorsed the UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate initiative launched by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in 2007.

In a statement addressed to the Rio+20 leaders due to debate sustainable development here from Wednesday to Friday, the 45 executives urged them “to take decisive actions during and after this summit on one of our world’s great challenges — water.”