WPP head calls on G8 to work with businesses over water scarcity

WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell (pictured) has called on the G8 to step up efforts on water scarcity. He says, in an open letter also signed by the chief executives of 18 other global companies that a water crisis is a threat to business as well as the environment.

Other signatories include Paul Bulcke of NestlÈ, Patrick Cescau of Unilever, E. Neville Isdall of The Coca-Cola Company, Indra K. Nooyi of PepsiCo and Paul Walsh of Diageo.

The letter calls on the G8 leaders to “commit to working more actively with the international business community” to tackle water-related issues. It also urges G8 countries to increase investment in clean water and sanitation programmes in developing countries. The signatories say “Water is not just an environmental issue – it is a poverty and development issue, an economic issue and therefore a business issue”.

The letter calls on the leaders of the world’s most powerful economies to “make the emerging water crisis a global priority”. The next G8 summit meets in Hokkaido, Japan in July.