Water

We acknowledge the human right to water access and use a catchment-based approach to our water planning which considers all relevant stakeholders.

Water availability is being affected by a combination of climate change, population growth, infrastructure planning and land use change. We are working with our communities and other stakeholders to achieve water security for our operations and address water issues within the catchments where we operate.

We have a holistic approach towards water management centred on promoting better water use, effective catchment management and improved water security. This is achieved by:

• Maintaining water balances for all operations
• Maintaining water resource forecasts in our business planning process
• Undertaking water resource risk and opportunity analyses, which considers both operational and broader catchment aspects

We recognise the significance of material water-related risks to our business and to the community. We are shifting the way we think about water to a long-term, catchment-wide planning approach integrated across all areas of our business.

To achieve water security for our operations, and address potential water issues within the catchments where we operate, each operation is required to carry out a water risk and opportunity analysis process every two years. A pre-screening tool captures water-related information for every operation. A multidisciplinary team then analyses the information to identify any water-related risks and potential opportunities that would benefit the operation and the broader catchment area.

For operations with material water-related risk, we implement controls which consider the broader catchment context. We also develop specific, time-bound contextual water targets. Read more about our material water-related risks and contextual water targets in our Sustainable Development Report 2020.