New Release of Interim Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting 2.0 Guidance
LimnoTech and partners (Bluerisk, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and World Resources Institute) have released interim updated guidance for implementing and valuing water stewardship activities as part of the Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA) 2.0 Guidance.
By LimnoTech, Bluerisk, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and World Resources Institute
November 13, 2023
(updated on January 22, 2024)
LimnoTech and partners (Bluerisk, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, and World Resources Institute) have released interim updated guidance for implementing and valuing water stewardship activities as part of the Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA) 2.0 Guidance. This voluntary guidance is intended to assist companies in making substantiated water stewardship claims, backed by science, to reduce environmental impacts and promote sustainable practices and outcomes.
You can view and download the interim guidance here: White Paper – VWBA 2.0 Installments 1 and 2
A generation of corporate volumetric water goals is well into the implementation phase, and there have been some key lessons from the early leaders. The first is a need for vetted pathways to deliver against these goals and standardized, and consistent guidelines for companies to follow when reporting the benefits of water stewardship projects that provide guardrails to ensure the credibility of claims. Current Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting (VWBA) guidance (VWBA 1.0) provides general programmatic principles but does not include details, such as project eligibility criteria to generate volumetric water benefits (VWBs) and guidance on how companies can credibly claim, track, and report VWBs. Second, increased demand for more ambitious enterprise and value-chain goals requires clear and defensible principles on accounting and allocating the benefits of collective action projects. Third, with the scope of water challenges we face, detailed guidance is needed to incentivize companies toward more transformational solutions that enable additional benefits or catalyze new opportunities.
In response, the World Resources Institute (WRI), LimnoTech, Bluerisk, and Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) have partnered to develop an update to VWBA.
Interim VWBA 2.0 guidance is being released through a series of four installments on a rolling basis during 2023-2024. Each installment covers a specific topic and provides guidance derived from experiences and insights gleaned from implementing water stewardship strategies, programs, projects, and activities. These installments are draft interim products and will be consolidated in a formal update to VWBA as VWBA 2.0.
This first release, Installment 1, “Project Eligibility Criteria and Selection Considerations,” provides clear and comprehensive guidance for identifying, prioritizing, and selecting water stewardship projects with the potential to generate volumetric water benefits.
Also included in this release is Installment 2, “Principles for Making Credible VWB Claims,” which provides practical instructions on how to claim VWBs, including guiding principles for eligibility, duration, and attribution of claims.”
The third and fourth installments will cover the following topics:
- Installment 3, Principles for VWB tracking and reporting
- Installment 4, Updated VWB calculation methods
Additional guidance related to “Enabled Activities and VWBs” is anticipated to be released in 2024.
The Project Team welcomes water stewardship practitioners to view, use, and share VWBA 2.0 Installments across their networks. We look forward to releasing and sharing future installments.
If you have any questions, you can reach out to Laura Weintraub at lweintraub@limno.com.
