As WAMI, we contribute to achieving the fundamental UN Sustainable Development Goals. And, spoiler: they don't just have to do with water intended as hydration.
In 2015, as part of a broader global strategy to "achieve a better and more sustainable future for all", the United Nations Organization developed and defined seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a change of course, for the transformation of the world with a view to equity and well-being for all: the macro areas, from direct access to energy to the right to education, from the elimination of poverty to the protection of the environment, at the same time they act as a guide and a springboard for many companies that are interested in defining one sustainability strategy internally, to create a positive impact starting from their own processes.
To date, almost 20 thousand companies in the world have joined the 2030 Agenda and focused on some objectives in particular to be integrated within their business models. Like us.
In fact, like WAMI, we were born with an idea in mind: be a B-corp which had as its main mission to look beyond immediate profit, reasoning and working on our processes and our objectives, with a view to creating an impact that is as maximized and positive as possible.
Thanks to the definition of the 2030 Agenda, we have been able to follow solid foundations to advance our path, and we support many other companies so that they do the same: together it is possible to have a concrete, real and transparent impact, describing it, for example, in its sustainability report as the cornerstone of a new corporate culture, which focuses on water and reducing the water footprint.
In fact, with our water projects, like WAMI, we help achieve these fundamental UN Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG 6 - Clean water and sanitation
Ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
Our water projects bring clean water to communities around the world that previously got supplies from unsafe sources or that had to travel long stretches of road to recover it. This creates not only hydration, but also better hygienic conditions, thanks also to awareness-raising activities carried out with the local realities we work with.
Over the years we have created more than 50 projects for a total of 8 billion liters donated.
SDG 5 - Gender equality
Achieving gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls.
In the world, it is mainly women in charge of water recovery for family needs, for a total of 200 million hours of walking per day: these hours could be dedicated to other activities of economic and social growth and independence. Having a tap close to home is a step towards achieving social equality, allowing girls and boys to go to school and train professionally.
SDG 4 - Quality education
Ensure inclusive education for all and promote fair and quality lifelong learning opportunities.
Our aqueducts also supply water to institutions and schools. Accessible sanitation facilities in educational facilities are needed to run education smoothly: the lack of sanitation facilities for students leads to illness and lack of concentration. In addition, in many cases children and teachers have to interrupt their school hours to go and recover the water destined for the structure.
SDG 13 - Fight against climate change
Take urgent measures to combat climate change and its consequences.
To make up for the lack of accessible drinking water, many communities involved in our projects first boiled or sanitized the unsafe water available to them in various ways, an operation that released a large amount of CO2 into the air. According to the calculations of Gold Standard, a liter of drinking water saves 152 grams of CO2, the equivalent of about two days of "work" on a tree, which saves 82 grams per day.
Creating a positive impact starting from water therefore means touching in a stratified way many other essential aspects of social and economic development implemented by the 2030 Agenda. Development that we hope that in the future it will become the prerogative of more and more companies and businesses around the world. If you want, we can start together.