AHC Group (www.ahcgroup.com), established in 1981 as a specialty consulting group that focuses on environmental and sustainability management, will hold its second workshop on “Water Risk Management” on June 11 and its semi-annual Achieving Results Workshop on June 12 and 13 in Saratoga Springs, NY for AHC Group Corporate Affiliates (“Affiliates”). Current Affiliates include Suncor, Hess, Caterpillar, Cummins, FedEx, Masco, FMC, DTE, Suncor, Monsanto, Bayer AG, Chrysler, Amway, CH2MHill, Veolia, and more. For more information on attending the workshop or on becoming an Affiliate, please visit www.ahcgroup.com.

The Water Risk Management workshop will build on the first which took place in January 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona. There, participants drew some conclusions after discussing the various water management tools available:

1. Current best practices for measuring water involve selecting from a range of tools, as no single composite tool addresses all the various complexities of a major water user;
2. It serves the interest of the multinationals to understand and apply these tools, and synthesize the analytics to identify water issues related to sustainable growth, innovation, and environmental excellence;
3. The goal with water analytics is to identify business-material issues for water-related investment and management. When material water issues are measured and disclosed appropriately, stakeholders can determine how well a company is measuring and managing water as a resource allocation.
4. Many influential voices in the broader financial community are being introduced to corporate water metrics, where companies can be benchmarked on metrics such as water intensity/sales, water intensity/energy, water intensity/employee, water intensity/EBITDA.   These and other metrics help resolve capital allocation questions about investing in efficiency versus innovation.
5. The cost of energy is becoming a frequent surrogate for cost of water given the stress nexus between water to grow food and provide drink to a burgeoning population vs. water for energy intensive industries that provide necessities such as oil & gas, utilities and mining. In seeking appropriate budgets for water investments, corporate sustainability leaders need to think about what reduces costs or drives revenues for their company and how that relates to water.

These megatrends have even leading companies struggling with water risk management issues.

“What we do here in this ongoing set of workshops is bring together the key players,” notes Ken Strassner, the former Vice President of Energy, Environment and Sustainability from Kimberly Clark, and senior associate at AHC Group. Our reason being the “… rising concern about water supplies and the quality of water available to support manufacturing operations. An increasingly wide range of investors have begun to track this issue, not only from the buy side but also the sell side, and especially in the Social Responsibility Investment community. By assembling major water users, major water tool providers, and key investment experts, AHC is offering our Corporate Affiliates and our clients a special, strategic view of these important trends.”

AHC Group’s second Water Risk Management Workshop is shaped to respond to the concerns of AHC Group Affiliates, raised at the January workshop. Among the foremost are the (1) competing water uses and the stress nexus between population growth vs. agriculture vs. industry uses, and (2) the growing understanding that water issues need to be managed regionally because they involve unique issues that will need to be balanced on a case by case basis.

With these insights, the second workshop will go deeper into the issue of U.S. water rights and water policy, and how they are likely to evolve, reflecting the movement towards regional solutions. The focus will be on the United States as a global “region”. Speakers will include:

1. Legal Expert: Prof. John Echeverria, Professor of Law, Acting Director of Vermont Law School Environmental Law Center, BA, Yale College, 1976; JD, Yale Law School, 1981; MFS, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 1981 on the development of U.S. water rights and policy issues, an overview of regional issues.
2. Cummins Engine: Todd Swingle, Manager Corporate Environmental. Mr. Swingle will discuss how Cummins developed its global corporate water strategy, which has a regional focus with a multi-stakeholder perspective. The regional focus motivates Cummins to assess the maturity of regional water programs where the company has operations. The maturity assessments help target priorities and directives for sites.
3. Monsanto: Glenn Austin, Director of Corporate Responsibility. Mr. Austin will discuss how Monsanto drives sustainability through innovation, including water savings, that goes through to the customer – downstream through the value chain.
4. AHC Group, Inc.: Ken Strassner and Kate Schrank, Senior Associates, on water management tools and strategic implications for this decade.

The Water Risk Management Workshop is for senior executives from leading companies.

Held for two days after the Water Risk Management Workshop, AHC Group’s Achieving Results Workshop on June 12 and 13 features a notable lineup of presenters including:

• Deb Frodl, Global Executive Director, GE ecomagination™
• Mitch Jackson, VP Environmental Affairs & Sustainability, FedEx
• John Wilson, Director of Corporate Governance, TIAA-Cref
• Tom Burke, Senior Advisor, Rio Tinto, and Co-Founder Toward Sustainable Mining Initiative
• Todd Swingle, Manager, Corporate Environmental Management, Cummins
• Greg Rose, Director Corporate Sustainability & Environmental Affairs, Chrysler
• And many more.

To learn more or to register for these workshops, please visit www.ahcgroup.com.

About AHC Group Inc.
Since 1981, the AHC Group has been active in assisting organizations and individuals in the field of environmental and management strategy. As management consultants, the AHC Group serves as trusted advisors to middle and upper management staff in organizations whose responsibilities include environmental health and safety, public relations, governmental affairs, corporate governance, social responsibility, communications, and investor relations.
www.ahcgroup.com

AHC Group

AHC Group

Since 1981, the AHC Group has been active in assisting organizations and individuals in the field of environmental and management strategy. As management consultants, we serve as trusted advisors to middle and upper management staff in organizations whose responsibilities include environmental health and safety, public relations, governmental affairs, corporate governance, social responsibility, communications, and investor relations. We focus on helping companies realize the business potential in environmental strategy and public issues, enhance stakeholder and investor relations, improve corporate governance and position themselves in the marketplace.

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