Friday, 3 May 2024 Reading time : 3 minutes

Fans of Wall Street movies will remember the comment at the end of the American blockbuster "The Big Short" about its protagonist Michael Burry:

"Burry is focusing all his trading on one commodity: Water." 

There is no doubt that water is the most important natural resource - and it is becoming scarcer. Climate change, population growth and changes in consumer behavior are leading to growing demand and thus to a shortage of this valuable commodity. 

Production factor
Water underlies almost every production process; coffee, for example, requires around 140 liters of water to turn the beans into a cup of beverage¹. The production of beef is also very water-intensive;  more than 15,000 liters are needed to produce a kg of meat². In Switzerland, beef consumption may slightly be declining in favor of chicken, fish and vegetarian alternatives, but the global trend is moving in a different direction. As purchasing power in developing countries increases, so does demand for luxury goods - driving up water consumption. Water scarcity is becoming a global problem as a result of excess demand: the World Resources Institute predicts that by 2025, half of the world's population may experiance water scarcity.

In Switzerland
In Switzerland, too, large quantities of water are consumed. In a report the SDC³ calculates that the average Swiss uses 162 liters of water a day for drinking, cooking, washing and cleaning. This does not include so-called virtual water, i.e. the water used to produce consumable goods . If this is included, the average consumption is over 4200 liters, enough to fill 24 bathtubs. 

Tracker certificate
Water scarcity is a key issue that innovative companies are addressing - a few selected companies are investable via Tracker Certificate on ZKB MeinIndex Water (learn more).

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ZKB Tracker Certificate on the MeinIndex Sustainable Water

• Performance since issue: +350% 
• Unlimited term: Open End 
• Termsheet

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Water supply
This includes firms that have significant activities in the water / wastewater sector. These companies are characterized by their sustainable corporate leadership/strategy – meaning they take ecological and social as well as financial factors into account in their corporate strategy.

Water technology
The companies represented in the water technology category are specialized in areas such as water/wastewater piping, sanitary installations and water measurement. They also include companies with water-efficient products and processes.

Water/wastewater treatment
Due to continued pollution of water – especially in the residential, industrial and agricultural sectors – demand for water purification and wastewater treatment technologies is growing globally. Clean water plays an extremely important role in terms of combating disease and epidemics.

Water services
The water services category consists of companies that are involved in the measurement and assessment of water quality or with the planning of installations, for instance for water treatment and soil decontamination.

Hydroelectricity
Corporations which focus on renewable energy production fromhydroelectricity and are managed on a sustainable basis.

Further information about the index

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_{1 https://www.projectwaterfall.org/our-blog/2016/8/2/from-farm-to-cup-the-life-of-a-coffee-bean}

_{2 https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/jan/10/how-much-water-food-production-waste}

_{3 https://www.eda.admin.ch/dam/deza/en/documents/publikationen/Diverses/209748-wasser-fussabdruck-schweiz_EN.pdf}

 

Disclaimer
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