Embedding Water‑related Risks in Financial Stability Frameworks

Annex A. Data for assessing financial materiality of water-related risks

Table A A.1. Non-exhaustive list of data sources and tools for assessing freshwater water-related risks

Tool or database	Description
Physical risk data and tools (including geospatial and remote sensing)
Biome geospatial data from National Geographic Tool	Visual map of biomes, to support identification of relevant biomes that operations/supply chains impact and/or depend on.
Collect Earth	Satellite imagery viewing tool. Specialty in monitoring land use change.
Copernicus	Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Analysis Ready Data (ARD) on land use mapping, including hot spotting of environmentally stressed areas.
EU JRC Global Surface Water Explorer	Provides time series maps of surface water changes to track drying rivers/lakes and pressure trends on watersheds.
FAO WaPOR	Indicator for selected regions, showing the annual Gross Biomass Water Productivity expressed as the quantity of output (total biomass production) in relation to the total volume of water consumed in the year (actual evapotranspiration).
FAO Aquastat	AQUASTAT is the FAO global information system on water resources and agricultural water management. It collects, analyses and provides free access to over 180 variables and indicators by country from 1960.
Freshwater Ecosystems Explorer	The state of freshwater ecosystems, in geospatial time-series data.
Global Flood Database (GFD)	Satellite imagery at a high resolution of 250 meters, enabling estimation of the extent of flood-affected areas, duration of inundation, and population exposure for 913 significant flood events recorded between 2000 and 2018.
Global Forest Watch	Geospatial data for monitoring companies and portfolios in forest-risk commodity supply chains. Can be used to build understanding of the extent of deforestation in forest-risk commodities and financing, focusing on the state of forests and the pressures.
Global Risk Assessment Services (GRAS)	Third-party assessments using GIS and remote sensing technologies to move toward transparent and deforestation-free supply chains.
Global Standardised Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) database	Quantifies drought severity by considering its intensity and duration, and effectively identifies the onset and cessation of drought episodes. It offers robust, long-term insights into global drought conditions with a spatial resolution of 0.5 degrees and monthly time resolution. SPEI provides assessments over various time scales ranging from 1 to 48 months.
Global Wetlands geospatial data	Geospatial wetland data, searchable by country and type of wetland
IBAT	Geospatial data to identify where operations/supplier locations sit in areas of interest such as Key Biodiversity Areas.
India Water Tool	Specific to India, this geospatial tool provides access to water-related datasets and risk indicators.
Land Portal Geoportal	Geospatial data layers on forest tenure, land and corruption, forest landscape restoration and indigenous and community land rights.
MapBiomas	Historical land cover and land use data, covering Brazil, the Amazon and the Gran Chaco. Allows visibility of deforestation over time.
Maplecroft Global Water Security Risk Index	Access to the Water Stress index that evaluates total water use relative to annual available flow on a catchment level across the globe, enabling users to assess inherent water stress in a particular business location.
NASA EarthData	High-resolution satellite datasets from MODIS and Landsat, including evapotranspiration, vegetation, and surface water mapping.
Rezatec Geospatial AI	Geospatial AI data that enables remote monitoring of water infrastructure and water catchment areas, water quality, pipeline risk etc. Aside from Water, there are also datasets available for Forestry, Agriculture and Energy.
Starling satellite imagery	Satellite imagery tool to support supply chain impact assessments on deforestation.
Swiss Re’s CatNet	Geospatial tool to identify and assess natural hazard risk, including the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) index.
Trase	Maps forest-risk supply chains linking consumer countries and traders with places of production. This allows greater visibility of the countries, regions and companies that have higher rates of deforestation.
UNEP-WCMC Ocean Data Viewer	Marine and coastal geospatial datasets relevant for estuarine areas and watersheds near coastal ecosystems.
UNESCO Natural and Mixed World Heritage Sites data	Geospatial data for UNESCO World Heritage sites that can be overlayed with operations/supplier locations, to screen for sites that sit in these locations.
WRI Aqueduct - Water-related risk Atlas	Identifies and evaluates water-related risks based on geography, including geospatial data of water-stressed regions that can be overlayed with operations/supplier locations.
WWF Water-related risk Filter	Explore water-related risks (physical, regulatory, reputational), assess these across the value chain, and identify potential mitigation actions.
Sector-level impact, dependency, and risk tools
CDP Water Watch	Ranks roughly 200 industrial activities within 13 industry sectors, according to their potential impact on water resources, both in terms of water quantity and water quality.
Ecoinvent	Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data to support sustainability assessments such as Life Cycle Assessments (LCA). This data can be used to support quantification of impacts throughout the life cycle stages of a product or service.
ENCORE	Identifies how economic sectors depend on and impact nature. It provides qualitative impact and dependency ratings linking ecosystem services to production processes. Some geospatial overlays are available through its Natural Capital Risk Maps, but the core tool is primarily a conceptual risk mapping resource, not a dedicated geospatial platform.
Exiobase	Multi-regional environmentally-extended input-output databases can be used to estimate environmental impacts based on sector and geography. Can also be used to estimate supply chain sector/geography breakdown, and relative impacts.
OECD Inter-Country Input-Output Tables	Used with environmental accounts to assess water use embedded in sectoral trade flows.
Science Based Targets for Nature – Sector Materiality Ratings	Identifies which environmental pressures, including water use and pollution, are material for specific sectors and sub-sectors. Supports prioritisation for setting science-based targets aligned with the SBTN framework
TNFD Sector & Biome Guidance	Provides guidance on how sectors interact with different biomes, helping users assess dependencies, impacts, and nature-related risks using the TNFD LEAP framework. Useful for identifying water-related risks across ecosystems and value chains.
Insurance data on economic losses
AXA Climate School	Knowledge platform on climate and nature-related physical risks, offering data and training modules, including water-related risk.
Munich Re NatCatSERVICE	Provides loss and exposure data for natural catastrophes, including flood and drought-related damages.
National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) (a flood insurance USA government initiative)	Offers publicly available NFIP data on financial losses by state, as well as policy and loss statistics by flood zone. NFIP
SwissRE	Provides economic loss data on all financial losses directly linked to significant events, covering damage to buildings, infrastructure, motor vehicles, and other physical assets. It also includes business interruption resulting directly from property. Insured losses refer to non-life insurance claims paid by both private and public insurers before any reinsurance deductions, excluding liability claims. Swiss Re's data captures floods that exceed certain thresholds: insured losses surpassing USD 52.7 million, economic losses exceeding USD 105.4 million, events resulting in 20 or more deaths,
Supply chain and commodity risk tools
Accountability Framework initiative (AFi)	Guidance on transparency within forestry and agricultural commodity supply chains.
Beef on Track	Platform collating systems, tools, data and technical information to support organisations in creating a deforestation-free beef chain in the Amazon
Chatham House Resource Trade Earth	Tracks governance and environmental risks embedded in global trade of water-intensive commodities.
Environmental Justice Atlas	Socio-environmental conflict mapping that can be used to understand key socio-environmental risks related to forest-risk commodity production in specific regions
Preferred by Nature - Sourcing Hub	Identification of risks e.g. through the use of the Timber Risk Score that provides country-level qualitative scores on the potential extent of illegal timber practices.
Proforest	Commodity-specific toolkits that can support organisations to map out forest-related risk in supply chains.
RBA Country Risk Assessment Tool	Country-level supply chain risk.
SEDEX RADAR Tool	Identifies inherent risks within supply chains, including Water and 13 other potential issues, based on geography and sector.
Water Footprint Network Assessment Tool	Quantities water consumption and sustainability based on geography and use data.
WWF-DE Supply Risk Tool	Assesses commodity supply chain vulnerabilities, including exposure to water stress.
Company-level ESG data and operational risk
CDP Water Questionnaire	Self-reported data by companies on water use, risk management, and governance, widely used for investor analysis and engagement.
Ecolab Water-related risk Monetizer	Quantifies the value of incoming and outgoing water to a specific location based on basin-level quantity and quality considerations.
EcoVadis	Provides ESG ratings for individual companies across supply chains.
GEMI Local Water Tool	Evaluate the external impacts, business risks, opportunities and management plans related to water use and discharge at a specific site or operation.
GRESB Infrastructure/Real Assets	ESG benchmarks including water-related performance for infrastructure and real estate assets.
MSCI ESG Ratings / Sustainalytics / Moody’s ESG	Commercial ESG ratings that include company-level water-related risk indicators for portfolio analysis.
RepRisk controversy data	Third-party controversy data on a range of ESG topics, to support tasks such as materiality assessments, due diligence and monitoring
Science-Based Targets for Nature	Provides sector and subindustry guidance on identification of direction operation and wider value chain impacts.
Policy and regulatory
Yale Environmental Performance Index (EPI)	Offers a data-driven overview of global sustainability. The database consists of 58 performance indicators across 11 issue categories, the EPI ranks 180 countries on climate change performance, environmental health, and ecosystem vitality. The Water Resources issue category specifically assesses how effectively humans are mitigating threats to aquatic ecosystems, focusing on the generation and mismanagement of wastewater. This category includes four indicators: wastewater generation, collection, treatment, and reuse.
GWI Water Data	Commercial database offering detailed information on utility costs, pricing, subsidy structures, and water infrastructure economics.
Global Water Tariff Survey	The Global Water Tariff Survey is developed by the Global Water Intelligence. It provides detailed profiles of water, wastewater, and stormwater tariffs for 572 cities across 188 countries.
International Statistics for Water Services (International Water Association)	Provides comprehensive information on water tariffs and water usage, emphasising the importance of tariff structures and addressing topics such as consumption patterns, taxes, and leakages. The dataset details the composition of city water charges, including fixed charges and environmental fees, and includes information on VAT for wastewater treatment, sewerage, and drinking water. It covers 34 countries and more than 180 cities.
OECD Environment at a Glance	Country-level environmental indicators including water governance, pricing, and resource efficiency.
OECD Water Policy Papers	Policy assessments on national water policies.
UN SDG 6 Data Portal	Tracks national progress toward SDG 6 targets on water availability, quality, governance, and infrastructure.
World Bank New International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation (IBNET)	Collects data from over 5,000 water and sanitation service providers across more than 150 countries worldwide since its creation. Includes benchmarking database on utility tariffs and financial performance of water service providers.
WRI Aqueduct (Policy Module) - Water-related risk Atlas	Provides mapping data on regulatory and reputational risks. These indicators can be broken down into three main categories: Unimproved/No Drinking Water, Unimproved/No Sanitation, and the Peak RepRisk Country ESG Risk Index.
WWF Water-related risk Filter (Policy Module)	Offers extensive information about local basin regulatory risks. It covers various aspects including freshwater policy status, freshwater law status, corruption, and access to safe water and sanitation, among others.

Source: Authors, and adapted from (TNFD, 2022[1]) Discussion paper: A Landscape Assessment.