Context

• Recently, the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Limited has become a signatory to the prestigious UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate.

Key Highlights

• The NTPC Ltd has already taken a series of measures across its plant locations on sound water management.
• The NTPC has joined a select group of business leaders who recognize the ever-growing importance of water stewardship and have been working to conserve this precious natural resource.
• It will further imbibe the 3R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle) for water conservation and management while carrying out its core business activity of power generation.

Back to Basics

Global Compact CEO Water Mandate

• It is a UN Global Compact initiative to demonstrate commitment and efforts of companies to better their water and sanitation agendas as part of Sustainable Development Goals.
• It was formed in 2007 to mobilize business leaders to advance water stewardship, sanitation, and the Sustainable Development Goals
• The CEO Water Mandate is designed to assist companies in the development, implementation, and disclosure of comprehensive water strategies and policies.
• It also provides a platform for companies to partner with like-minded businesses, UN agencies, public authorities, civil society organizations, and other key stakeholders.

  

• It looks to support SDG6 and its touch point with other water-related SDGs by working with companies to implement good water stewardship practices.
• It develops tools and resources, convenes stakeholders, and facilitates meaningful partnerships and on-the-ground collective actions that improve conditions in at-risk river basins around the world.
• It offers a unique platform to share best and emerging practices and to forge multi-stakeholder partnerships to address challenges related to water scarcity, water quality, water governance, and access to water and sanitation.
• The CEO Water Mandate is a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General and the UN Global Compact, implemented in partnership with the Pacific Institute. These key partners work together as the CEO Water Mandate Secretariat.

UN Global Compact

• It is a strategic initiative that supports global companies that are committed to responsible business practices in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment, and corruption.
• It was officially launched at UN Headquarters in New York City in 2000.
• It promotes activities that contribute to sustainable development goals to create a better world.
• It is based on 10 principles that should define a company’s value system and approach to doing business:
  • Principle 1: Support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights.
  • Principle 2: Ensure that business practices are not complicit in human rights abuses.
  • Principle 3: Uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
  • Principle 4: Eliminate all forms of forced and compulsory labor.
  • Principle 5: Abolish child labor.
  • Principle 6: Eliminate discrimination in employment and occupation.
  • Principle 7: Adopt a precautionary approach to environmental challenges.
  • Principle 8: Conduct environmentally responsible activities.
  • Principle 9: Encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.
  • Principle 10: Fight corruption in all its forms including extortion and bribery.
• It is a non-binding United Nations pact to encourage businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies.
• It is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative with 13000 corporate participants and other stakeholders over 170 countries.
• It is a founding member of the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative, Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI), and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Source: PIB  & Wikipedia

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