W8 Targets

Module Overview

This module collects information on your organization’s water-related quantitative targets and qualitative goals to demonstrate your commitment to progressing water stewardship and security improving water management.

Details are requested only for targets and goals that are significant to the company as whole and therefore monitored at the corporate level. However, we ask you to describe your approach to how targets are set for any level of your organization, because local context is critical for addressing water challenges. For example, do you have more aggressive targets in areas of most water stress? What changes are your targets and goals driving? How does your target setting link to your business strategy? What processes are used to review their impact?

Key changes

• None.

Sector-specific content

• Additional drop-down options W8.1a: Food, Beverages & Tobacco.

Pathway diagram - questions

This diagram shows the general questions contained in module W8. To access question-level guidance, use the menu on the left to navigate to the question.

Targets and goals

(W8.1) Describe your approach to setting and monitoring water-related targets and/or goals.

Question dependencies

• Your response to W8 will prompt which subsequent questions in this section are presented. If your response to W8.1 is amended, data in those dependent questions may be erased. In this case, be sure to re-enter data for all relevant questions. The guidance for each question indicates if it is a dependent question.
  
  If you select “Our company sets no targets and/or goals” in column 1, you will be presented with W8.1c.
  
  If you select "Targets are monitored at the corporate level" in column 2, you will be presented with W8.1a.
  
  If you select “Goals are monitored at the corporate level’ in column 2, you will be presented with W8.1b.

Change from 2018

No change

Rationale

CDP data users wish to know about your organization’s targets (quantitative) and goals (qualitative) for achieving its water policy and commitments, improving water management, and responding to current and future water risks.

Companies may set targets and/or goals that are corporate wide, applicable to all parts of their organization, and determined and monitored at the corporate level. Some will be a key tool for achieving the corporate water strategy, though they apply to specific brands, products, facilities, basins, regions, processes etc. Others will be associated with the day to day management of the company at a local level. Some targets will be set at the level of specific regions, brands, business units etc. and will not be monitored at the corporate level.

Context can be particularly relevant for water-related targets and goals. Risks and impacts, and their mitigation actions, are often specific to location and the contextual issues of a basin; such as, water quality/quantity, access to WASH, water governance, and local ecosystems.

Companies may contribute to targets and goals that go beyond or originate beyond their company “fence line” and work with other stakeholders to achieve them, particularly at the basin.

This question allows your organization to explain its approach to target and goal setting at all levels and to demonstrate to CDP data users how the targets and goals are linked to the water risks and impacts you disclose in this questionnaire.

Connection to other frameworks

CEO Water Mandate

Response: Policies, governance and targets

Response options

Please complete the following table:

Requested content

General

• Consider the range of water-related targets and goals set within your organization and the processes you have in place to ensure that they are meaningful and that their progress and impact is monitored. Also consider whether these are monitored at the corporate level. The targets may be related to your organization’s direct operations, or other parts of its value chain.

Levels for targets and/or goals (column 1)

• Select all the options that apply to your organization for the current reporting year. Indicate if your organization uses targets and goals that are company-wide, local, specific to a business unit, product or brand etc. For example, if you have a target associated with water demand for a garment dying process and that target applies across all of your operations and geographies, you would select both ‘Activity specific targets and goals' and ‘Company-wide targets and goals.’
• If you select “Other, please specify,” provide a label for the level of targets/goals.

Monitoring at corporate level (column 2)

• Indicate if any targets or goals are currently monitored at the corporate level (regardless of the level that they are set or their coverage). Please explain your response in column 3.
• Note that this refers to the monitoring of targets and goals, and determines the presentation of questions W8.1a and W8.1b. You may have site/basin/country/product targets and goals that are being monitored at the corporate level because they contribute to a corporate wide initiative, or because they are considered important for the company as a whole.
• Only select ‘None’ if no targets or goals are monitored outside of the site/basin/country/business division etc.

Approach to setting and monitoring targets and/or goals (column 3)

• Please give a company-specific description of your general approach to setting water-related targets and goals. This may include the following at any level of your organization:

- how you identify targets and goals relevant to your water risks, impacts, and opportunities or relevant to shared water challenges, and how you prioritize them. For example, you may have a company-wide policy to set targets only in water stressed areas, or to set more aggressive targets in water stressed basins and this involves engagement with river basin authorities to ensure a consolidated approach.
- how you ensure that targets and goals reflect geographic, regulatory, and other contextual factors, such as the use of science-based hydrological models or the needs of other users in a basin.
- any formal motivations (company-wide or other) that drive the setting of targets and goals – such as, adherence to water-related public policy agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals or local environmental initiatives.
- how forward-looking strategic business plans, informed by scenario analysis tools for example, have influenced your targets and goals.
- any other information that ensures your targets and goals are tracked, progressed in monitored, and they deliver meaningful outcomes for your organization or for other water users.

• If you set water-related targets and goals but none are currently monitored at the corporate level, you should explain here.
• Please provide examples to help CDP data users understand the robustness of your approach to target and goal setting and monitoring.

Explanation of terms

• Goal: A long term qualitative outcome or a specific change in behavior or circumstances.
• Target: A specific measurable output to be achieved within a specific timeline. Targets often act as steps towards a wider and long-term corporate goal.

Example response

Additional information

• CDP is a partner in a multi-organization project to develop guidance for companies on how to set meaningful water targets that account for local context. More details can be found in Exploring the case for context-based water targets (2017), and an updated publication is expected later 2019.
• In addition, CDP is part of an initiative exploring science-based targets for water, mirroring the successful work of the Science-Based Targets initiative for greenhouse gas emissions in mobilizing companies towards robust environmental impact reduction.
• We expect this module of our questionnaire to evolve to reflect the outcomes of those projects as they establish good practice in target setting.

(W8.1a) Provide details of your water targets that are monitored at the corporate level, and the progress made.

Question dependencies

• This question only appears if you select “Targets are monitored at the corporate level" in response to column 2 of W8.1.

Change from 2018

No change

Rationale

This question provides CDP data users with details about your water-related targets that are monitored at the corporate level. They may be significant for progressing water security or reducing other water-related risks, achieving other water commitments or strategic business objectives.

Connection to other frameworks

CEO Water Mandate

Response: Policies, governance and targets

SDG

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

Response options

Please complete the following table. The table is displayed over several rows for readability. If you have multiple targets, you are able to add rows by using the “Add Row” button at the bottom of the table.

[Add Row]

Category of target (column 2)

Primary motivation (column 4)

Quantitative metric (column 6)

Requested content

General

• This question requests information about your quantitative targets that are currently monitored at the corporate level. These may or may not be company-wide. For example, a company may have a commitment to improve water efficiency that is implemented through locally specific targets and activities that together contribute to a company-wide target. If progress is monitored at the corporate level, this target should be reported here.
• We are not requesting details of targets monitored at the facility, business, basin level etc. If a target is set at the facility, business, basin or country level etc. and it is monitored at the corporate level, because it is significant to the business as a whole, it should be reported.
• Only report targets that are ongoing or have reached completion during the reporting year.
• To add targets, use the “Add Row” button. You may report up to 25 targets.

Target reference number (column 1)

• Select a ‘Target number’ from the drop-down list to allocate a unique identifier to your target. This will allow you to track and report progress for this target in future disclosures to CDP, until the target is retired. The target reference number is not specific to your organization.

Category of target (column 2)

• Select the type of target you wish to report. Your selection will drive the metrics presented in column 6. Refer to the metrics list under the question table to see which quantitative metrics are linked to each category of targets listed (column 6).
• If you select “Other, please specify,” provide a label for the type of target you wish to report.

Level (column 3)

• Select the organizational/geographic/other level or scope that the target applies to. For example, the target may apply to a particular product or a particular industrial process within your business.

Primary motivation (column 4)

• Select the most applicable primary motivation behind the target you are reporting. If you select “Other, please specify,” provide a label for the primary motivation.

Description of target (column 5)

• Provide additional company specific details that will help CDP data users understand your organization’s target, its contribution to water security, and why it was chosen.
• Include a company-specific rationale for the target and its level of ambition, why it is important, and why it is being monitored at the corporate level.
• You may also include, for example:

- if the target is the same for all basins/facilities/products, or if it is aligned with local risk levels, for example.
- if a company-wide target is driven by local challenges; e.g. “Discharge treatment was found to be inadequate across several sites in different geographies. We have set a company- wide goal to review this risk and set a company-wide 100% compliance target to meet or go beyond regulatory requirements.”
- how the target is being implemented and what investment in financial or personnel resources is necessary to achieve the target.

Quantitative metric (column 6)

• The drop-down list presented will depend on the type of target you selected in column 2. Some metrics are linked to more than one category.
• Select the metric used to quantitatively track your progress against the target, or how your organization measures the success of this target. If you select “Other, please specify,” provide a label for the metric.

Baseline year (column 7)

• Enter a whole number between 1900 and 2018 to indicate the baseline against which your target is measured.
• The baseline year may be before, after, or the same as the start year.

Start year (column 8)

• Enter a whole number between 2000 and 2018 to indicate the year that the target was set.
• If you have a year-on-year rolling target, this will be the same as the baseline year in column 7.
• If you have a target based on financial years, please enter the start year for that period. If you have a target based on an average (e.g. five years average), please enter the year that applies to the start of the average period.

Target year (column 9)

• Enter a whole number between 2017 and 2100.
• If you have a year-on-year rolling target, your target year will be the current reporting year.
• If you have a target based on financial years, please enter the end year for that period. If you have a target based on an average (e.g. five years average), please enter the year that applies to the end of the average period.
• You should not report any target that was completed before the start of the reporting year.

% achieved (column 10)

• Indicate how much progress your organization has made against the base line year by the end of the reporting year. Please report the value up to two decimal places.

Please explain (column 11)

• Provide an explanation of the level of progress reported in column 10 (% achieved), whether this matches anticipated progress, if the original target has been revised in any way, and if so, why.
• You may comment on the Baseline, Start, or Target year.

Explanation of terms

• Product water intensity: A metric providing the relationship between a volumetric aspect of water and a unit of product created.

Example response

(W8.1b) Provide details of your corporate water goal(s) that are monitored at the corporate level and the progress made.

Question dependencies

• This question only appears if you select "Goals are monitored at the corporate level" in response to column 2 of W8.1.

Change from 2018

No change

Rationale

CDP data users wish to know if your organization has any qualitative goals related to water and how they contribute to water security, reducing other water-related risks, and/or achieving other water commitments or strategic business objectives.

Connection to other frameworks

CEO Water Mandate

Response: Policies, governance and targets

SDG

Goal 6: Clean water and sanitation

Response options

Please complete the following table. You are able to add rows by using the “Add Row” button at the bottom of the table.

[Add Row]

Goal (column 1)

Motivation (column 3)

Requested content

General

• A goal is considered to be a qualitative outcome or a change in behavior or circumstances (such as ‘improving water governance’), whereas a target is generally a specific, measurable output to be achieved within a specific timeline. A target could act to support a goal - as a quantitative assessment of progress.
• This question requests information about your goals that are currently monitored at the corporate level. These may or may not be company-wide goals but if progress is monitored at the corporate level, this goal may be reported here.
• We are not requesting details of goals set or monitored at the facility, business, basin level etc., unless they are significant to the business as a whole and therefore monitored at the corporate level.
• Only report goals that are ongoing or have reached completion during the reporting year.
• To add goals, use the “Add Row” button. You may report up to 25 goals.

Goal (column 1)

• Select the option that best matches your organization’s goal. If there is not an option that is applicable, select “Other, please specify” to provide a label for the goal.
• You should provide more details of your goal in column 4.

Level (column 2)

• Select the organizational/geographic/other level or scope that the goal applies to. For example, the goal may apply to a particular product or a particular industrial process within your business. If you select “Other, please specify,” provide a label for the level.

Motivation (column 3)

• Select the most applicable motivation behind the goal you are reporting. If you select “Other, please specify,” provide a label for the primary motivation.

Description of goal (column 4)

• Provide additional details that will help data users to understand your organization’s goal, its contribution to water security and why it was chosen.
• Include a company-specific rationale for the goal and its level of ambition, why it’s important, and why it is being monitored at the corporate level.
• You should also include:

- why this goal was adopted for the level indicated in column 2.
- if the goal is the same for all basins/facilities/products, or if it is aligned with local risk levels, for example.
- how your company is implementing the goal at the associated level. You may give details of the financial and personnel resources that have been committed to achieving it.

Baseline year (column 5)

• Please enter a whole number between 1900 and 2100 to indicate the baseline against which your goal is assessed.
• The baseline year may be before, after, or the same as the start year.

Start year (column 6)

• Please enter a whole number between 2000 and 2018 to indicate the year that the goal was set.
• If you have a year-on-year rolling goal, this will be the same as the baseline year in column 6.
• If you have a goal based on financial years, please enter the start year for that period.
• If you have a goal based on an average (e.g. five years average), enter the year that applies to the start of the average period.

End year (column 7)

• Please enter a whole number between 2017 and 2100.
• If you have a year-on-year rolling goal, your end year will be the current reporting year.
• If you have a goal based on financial years, please enter the end year for that period.
• If you have a goal based on an average (e.g. five years average), enter the year that applies to the end of the average period.
• You should not report any goal that was completed before the start of the reporting year.

Progress (column 8)

• For each goal, specify the progress that has been achieved by the end of the reporting year.
• Provide details as to how your organization assesses the progress made, the indicators you use and how will you know when the goal has been achieved, e.g. the thresholds of success.

(W8.1c) Why do you not have water target(s) or goal(s) and what are your plans to develop these in the future?

Question dependencies

• This question only appears if you select “Our company sets no targets or goals" in response to column 1 of W8.1.

Change from 2018

No change

Rationale

Investors need an explanation as to why you do not have water-related targets or goals in place, especially if you have indicated a dependency on water or substantive water risks.

Response options

Please complete the following table:

Requested content

Primary reason (column 1)

• If you select “Other, please specify,” provide a label for the primary reason.

Please explain (column 2)

• Please use this open text field to provide any relevant details explaining why your organization does not have any targets or goals for the reporting year.
• If your organization has plans to develop these in the future, please include any information detailing your future plans here.