CLIMATE ACCOUNTING
Water consumption is one of the most material environmental risks for organizations across agriculture, food and beverage, textiles, chemicals, packaging, and energy — and yet it remains among the least systematically measured. ISO 14046 defines the internationally recognized methodology for quantifying the water footprint of products, processes, and organizations — covering blue water (surface water and groundwater consumed), green water (rainwater used by crops and vegetation), and grey water (the freshwater volume required to dilute pollutants to acceptable concentrations). The result is a structured, methodology-aligned water risk baseline that CDP Water, TNFD, ESRS E3, and GRI 303 all require as their primary quantitative input.
Semtrio delivers ISO 14046-aligned water footprint assessments for organizations in water-intensive sectors — providing the measurement foundation for water stewardship strategies, investor disclosure, and regulatory reporting.
The CDP Water programme evaluates organizations on their water risk governance, water consumption and withdrawal measurement, and water stewardship targets. Water footprint data aligned with ISO 14046 is the methodological foundation CDP Water scoring requires. As CDP Water questionnaire requirements deepen — and as investors increasingly use CDP Water scores to assess water-related portfolio risk — organizations without quantified, methodology-aligned water data face material scoring disadvantages.
ESRS E3 — Water and Marine Resources — requires CSRD-scope organizations to disclose water consumption, withdrawal, and discharge across operations and value chains, and to assess material water-related dependencies and impacts. TNFD's LEAP methodology explicitly includes water ecosystem dependencies as a primary nature-related risk category. For organizations in both CSRD scope and with material water dependencies, a structured ISO 14046 water footprint provides the quantified baseline both frameworks require.
The water risk exposure of a textile company is not in its own operations — it is in the cotton fields of its supply chain. The water risk exposure of a food manufacturer is not in its factory — it is in the river basins where its agricultural inputs are grown. ISO 14046 accounts for this by quantifying water footprint across the full value chain, not only at operational level. Organizations that measure water risk only at their own facility boundaries are systematically underestimating their exposure.
Most organizations approach water management as a utility cost — tracking what they consume at their facilities and reporting aggregate withdrawal figures. ISO 14046-aligned water footprint assessment goes substantially further: quantifying water consumption across the full value chain using a geographically differentiated methodology that reflects actual water scarcity at the basin level, not aggregate global averages. A tonne of water consumed in a water-scarce basin carries a materially different environmental significance than the same tonne consumed in a water-abundant region — ISO 14046's characterization methodology captures this distinction, producing a water footprint figure that is genuinely meaningful for water risk management rather than a headline number.
Semtrio's water footprint assessments are designed to serve multiple downstream purposes simultaneously. CDP Water questionnaire responses, TNFD LEAP water dependency disclosures, ESRS E3 sustainability statements, and GRI 303 water reporting all draw on the same underlying water footprint data — Semtrio structures the assessment to produce outputs for all four frameworks from a single engagement, without requiring separate data collection for each.
OUR PROCESS
An ISO 14046-aligned water footprint assessment — from boundary definition to investor-grade water risk disclosure.
TNFD's LEAP assessment explicitly covers water-related ecosystem dependencies and impacts — an ISO 14046-aligned water footprint provides the quantified water risk data that makes the water-related sections of the LEAP assessment credible and investor-grade rather than qualitative.
Learn moreGRI 303 (Water and Effluents) requires disclosure of water withdrawal, consumption, and discharge by source — Semtrio designs water footprint assessments to produce GRI 303-aligned data outputs directly, without requiring separate data collection for sustainability reporting.
Learn moreWater is among the most commonly material topics under CSRD's ESRS E3 for manufacturing, agriculture, and food organizations — a structured ISO 14046 water footprint strengthens the evidence base for water materiality determinations and the quantified disclosures ESRS E3 subsequently requires.
Learn moreCDP Water scoring requires quantified water consumption and withdrawal data at basin level — Semtrio structures water footprint assessments to produce CDP Water questionnaire inputs directly, connecting the ISO 14046 methodology to the scoring requirements of the CDP Water programme.
Learn moreWater footprint designed for disclosure — not just measurement.
Most water footprint assessments are produced as standalone environmental studies — quantifying water consumption without a clear connection to how the results will be used for CDP Water, TNFD, ESRS E3, or GRI 303 disclosure. Semtrio designs water footprint assessments from the disclosure requirement backward — starting with what CDP Water, TNFD, or ESRS E3 actually needs in terms of water data structure, basin-level granularity, and scarcity characterization, and building the assessment methodology to produce those outputs directly.
The sectors where water risk is most material — textiles, agriculture, chemicals, food and beverage, packaging, and energy — each have distinct water footprint characteristics. Textile manufacturing has high blue water embedded in cotton supply chains and significant grey water from dyeing and finishing processes. Chemical and packaging manufacturing has complex wastewater discharge profiles. Agriculture and food have green water dominance in upstream supply chains. Semtrio's sector experience means we apply the water impact characterization methodology that reflects each sector's specific water risk profile — not a generic approach.
For organizations integrating water footprint into a broader environmental reporting system alongside GHG accounting, LCA, and TNFD — Semtrio designs the water assessment to share data collection infrastructure with these workstreams wherever possible, reducing the internal data burden and improving consistency across all environmental disclosures.
Talk to our team about your water footprint assessmentWhether you're scoping a single service engagement, evaluating end-to-end advisory across multiple clusters, or looking for one accountable partner across strategy and disclosure — start here.
Yaren Ünal
Senior Specialist,Client Solutions
Hamza Söylemez
Specialist,Client Solutions
Frequently asked questions about water footprint
A water footprint quantifies the volume of freshwater consumed, evaporated, or polluted by a product, process, or organization — expressed in cubic metres of water per unit of production or activity. ISO 14046 is the international standard that defines the methodology for conducting water footprint assessments — covering blue water (surface water and groundwater that is consumed and not returned to its source), green water (rainwater stored in soil and used by plants through evapotranspiration, primarily relevant for agricultural systems), and grey water (the volume of freshwater required to dilute pollutants in wastewater to a concentration that meets ambient water quality standards). ISO 14046 requires that water footprint calculations use geographically differentiated characterization factors that reflect actual water scarcity at the watershed or basin level — distinguishing between water consumption in water-stressed regions, where the same volume has substantially greater environmental impact, and consumption in water-abundant regions.
Blue water is the freshwater sourced from surface water bodies or groundwater aquifers that is consumed and not returned to the same catchment — the most commonly measured water category in industrial and manufacturing settings. Green water is the rainwater that falls on land, is stored in soil as soil moisture, and is consumed through evapotranspiration by crops or vegetation — primarily relevant for agricultural production systems and products with significant agricultural supply chains. Grey water is not a volume of consumed water but a calculated pollution dilution volume — the amount of freshwater that would be required to dilute the pollutant load in wastewater discharge to a concentration that meets ambient water quality guidelines. For water-intensive industries such as textiles, pulp and paper, and food processing, grey water can represent a significant portion of total water footprint.
Sectors with high material water risk include textiles (particularly cotton cultivation and dyeing and finishing processes), food and beverage (agricultural raw material supply chains), chemicals (process water and wastewater discharge), packaging (paper and pulp manufacturing), energy (cooling water for thermal and nuclear plants), and mining. Water risk is material in these sectors for several reasons: production volume is constrained by water availability, operations in water-stressed basins face increasing regulatory and social licence pressure, supply chain water risk can affect raw material availability, and investors — through CDP Water scoring and TNFD nature-related risk assessment — are increasingly pricing water risk into portfolio valuations. A water footprint quantified at basin level provides the evidence base for understanding where water risk actually sits in the value chain and where stewardship effort will have the greatest effect.
All four frameworks require quantified water data as their primary input. CDP Water's questionnaire requires organizations to disclose water withdrawal and consumption by source and region, and to demonstrate understanding of water risk at basin level — ISO 14046-aligned water footprint data provides the structured, basin-differentiated figures CDP Water scoring requires. TNFD's LEAP methodology covers water-related ecosystem dependencies as a core nature-related risk category — water footprint data, particularly blue water consumption by basin and dependency on freshwater ecosystem services, feeds directly into TNFD LEAP assessment. ESRS E3 — Water and Marine Resources — requires CSRD-scope organizations to disclose water consumption, withdrawal, and discharge, and to assess material water-related impacts and risks across operations and value chains. GRI 303 (Water and Effluents) requires disclosure of water withdrawal, consumption, and discharge by source. A well-structured ISO 14046 assessment produces the data required for all four simultaneously.
Semtrio's water footprint assessments follow a four-phase structure. We begin with scope and boundary definition — establishing the system boundary, water categories to be assessed, and geographic scope, aligned with the specific disclosure frameworks the assessment must serve. We then design and execute the water data collection process — operational water withdrawal and consumption by source, supply chain water inputs, and wastewater discharge data — applying quality review and selecting appropriate basin-level characterization factors. We calculate the blue, green, and grey water footprint using ISO 14046 methodology with geographically differentiated scarcity characterization, identify water risk hotspots by basin and supply chain stage, and produce the impact assessment. We deliver the final water footprint report with framework-specific outputs for CDP Water, TNFD, ESRS E3, and GRI 303, and provide water stewardship target recommendations grounded in the hotspot analysis.
Talk to our team about your water footprint assessmentWhether you are responding to CDP Water requirements, preparing ESRS E3 disclosure, assessing water dependencies for TNFD, or building your water stewardship baseline — we will scope the assessment, manage the data collection, and deliver outputs that serve every framework from one engagement.
Whether you are responding to CDP Water requirements, preparing ESRS E3 disclosure, assessing water dependencies for TNFD, or building your water stewardship baseline — we will scope the assessment, manage the data collection, and deliver outputs that serve every framework from one engagement.
