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Publications
Publications
  • 2020
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Measuring the Cost of Corporate Water Usage

By: DG Park, George Serafeim and T. Robert Zochowski
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:15
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Abstract

We develop a methodology that calculates the impact that organizations have on the environment through their water consumption relating to water stress risk. Using the methodology, we derive estimates for four companies that show how assumptions on the geographic location of the water withdrawal and use of different prices for water across geographies lead to variation in these estimates. We conclude with a framework guiding a user to understand the conditions under which a methodology might lead to over- or underestimation of water costs.

Keywords

Water; Water Management; Environment; Sustainability; Environmental Impact; Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Organizations; Environmental Sustainability; Valuation

Citation

Park, DG, George Serafeim, and T. Robert Zochowski. "Measuring the Cost of Corporate Water Usage." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-036, September 2020.
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About The Author

George Serafeim

Accounting and Management
→More Publications

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    David Crane’s Clean(er) Energy Strategy at NRG

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    FIJI Water: Carbon Negative? (Abridged)

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    Machine Learning Models for Prediction of Scope 3 Carbon Emissions

    By: George Serafeim and Gladys Vélez Caicedo
More from the Authors
  • David Crane’s Clean(er) Energy Strategy at NRG By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Tom Quinn
  • FIJI Water: Carbon Negative? (Abridged) By: Michael W. Toffel, George Serafeim, Francesca Gino, Stephanie Van Sice and Tom Quinn
  • Machine Learning Models for Prediction of Scope 3 Carbon Emissions By: George Serafeim and Gladys Vélez Caicedo
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