Water-intensive companies with high exposure to risk to their supplies of water are analysed in one of the Q-Series® reports available from investment bank UBS AG.
The bank’s UK-based analysts list high-risk companies as: Foster’s Group, Sumitomo Chemical, Datang International Power, Nestle India, China National Building Materials, BHP Billiton, Cairn India, Holmen, Taiwan Semiconductor and China Steel.
The bank also lists low-risk companies, including: Britvic, Potash Corp, Entergy Corp, Brasil Foods, Saint Gobain, China Molybdenum, Cairn Energy, International Paper, Hynix and Gerdau
UBS analyses over 100 global companies in water-intensive sectors, those with water or water-intensive commodities inputs, water-intensive industrial processes or those simply dependent on an adequate water supply: Beverage, Chemicals, Power Generators, Food, Mining, Oil & Gas, Paper, Steel, Materials and Semiconductors.
Material water risks are taken to be plant shut-down, supply-chain disruption or losing a ‘licence to operate.’ However, risks are local and supply-chain water also needs to be considered, says the bank.
For companies with over 10% of operations in the US, China, Australia, India and Brazil, UBS analyses operations on a site-specific basis and incorporates Trucost data on water withdrawal and supply-chain risk.