The Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) will officially launch Version 3.0 of the International Water Stewardship Standard during UN World Water Day week, with a physical launch event in Tokyo, Japan on 18 March 2026 followed by three global virtual launch webinars on 25 March 2026.
The upgraded Standard arrives as global water risks accelerate and companies face mounting pressure to demonstrate credible environmental claims amid tightening EU and UK regulations on green claims and water related disclosure under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
The water risk context
According to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report 2026, environmental risks remain among the most severe threats over the next decade, while a UNU-INWEH Report warning the world has entered an era of "water bankruptcy," with many economies living beyond their hydrological means as rivers, aquifers and glaciers are pushed past recovery.
One in five companies globally already reports significant water related supply chain risks with an estimated 77 billion dollars of value at risk, while ten percent of global GDP comes from high water risk regions projected to rise to 46 percent by 2050. Floods, droughts, and pollution are disrupting supply chains and forcing businesses to integrate water into business critical risk management.
What's new in Version 3.0
The AWS Standard is a globally applicable framework for major water users to understand their water use and impacts, and work collaboratively for sustainable water management at site and catchment level. Certification to the Standard provides independent, third-party verification of water stewardship performance, enabling credible claims to investors, regulators, customers and communities.
Version 3.0, adopted in December 2025 after a two-year global consultation involving more than 100 organisations and 3,000 public comments with 93 percent member approval, strengthens the proven framework by improving:
- Practicality: Streamlined yet rigorous requirements, clearer minimum expectations and easier entry for companies starting their water stewardship journey
- Utility: Better alignment with broader sustainability agendas, new requirements on climate impacts and resilience, stronger focus on healthy freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity, and integration of collective action requirements
- Value: Strengthened interoperability with EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requirements, specifically ESRS E3 Water, plus alignment with CDP and Taskforce on Nature related Financial Disclosures (TNFD)
Independent evaluation of Version 2.0 found tangible social, environmental and economic benefits including better community engagement, improved water quality and balance, groundwater recharge, creation of new habitats, lower costs through reduced water use and growth in agro industrial production and jobs.
The Tokyo Launch Event will take place on Wednesday, 18 March 2026, from 1:00 PM to 4:45 PM JST at the Suntory World Headquarters, Tokyo.
Global Virtual Launch Webinars will take place on March 25, with Session 1 at 05:00 UTC / 13:00 CST. It is in Chinese with simultaneous interpretation to English. It will take place via Microsoft Teams.
Session 2 will occur at 08:00 UTC. It will be in English with simultaneous interpretation to French. It will take place via Zoom.
Session 3 will happen at 16:00 UTC. It will be in English with simultaneous interpretation to Spanish. It will take place via Zoom.
Registration links and further details are available at the link here.
For more information:
Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS)
2 Quality Street
North Berwick EH39 4HW
Scotland
https://a4ws.org/
