Sustainable management of natural resources: how do companies assess their dependence and impact?

“Today, businesses in the agricultural sector are generally doing it wrong, as they only measure the quantity of water consumed and released, without truly considering the qualitative dimension,” began Simon Bestel, agronomist and co-founder of FEVE (Farms in Life). “Diffuse water pollution, notably through infiltration into soils or runoff into rivers, is assessed in a very indirect way. We should develop more dynamic, in situ measurements to better understand these types of pollution.”

For FEVE, which supports agroecological transition, this issue is central to comparing the impact of conventional production with that of practices that use fewer inputs. “If we can demonstrate that more sustainable methods directly improve water quality, we can better highlight the work of farmers involved in this process,” he added.

Companies also need to be mindful of the impact of their location on resources, particularly when they occupy wetlands. “These environments play a key role in water storage, flood prevention, biodiversity, and even carbon storage,” reminded Guillaume Sainteny, president of Plan Bleu, and expert in environmental policies and sustainable development. Yet, they have been massively drained worldwide and in France since World War II, especially for urbanization and agricultural use. “Every company owning land in a wetland area should implement a policy for preservation, or even management and improvement of these spaces,” he recommended. However, even when these areas are protected, intensive agriculture sometimes still occurs, as seen in the Marais Poitevin or the Camargue.

Water Dependency

Beyond the issues related to location, companies’ dependency on water resources is becoming an increasing challenge due to climate change. “France remains a well-irrigated country, with large rivers and a temperate climate, but several factors are disrupting this balance,” warned Guillaume Sainteny. On the one hand, rainfall patterns are changing: winters are wetter and summers are drier, which increases pressure on resources during critical periods. On the other hand, “the gradual disappearance of glaciers and mountain snow deprives the country of natural storage in winter,” exacerbating the low water levels in rivers during the summer, added Simon Bestel.

At the same time, agricultural practices have significantly evolved. “The expansion of maize cultivation since the 1970s has increased water consumption, especially in regions where natural conditions are not suited for this crop,” explained Guillaume Sainteny. Unlike the Aquitaine Basin, where heat and humidity naturally favor this water-intensive crop, its development in other areas has required massive irrigation during times of the year when water is already scarce. “Moreover, maize is extremely harmful to biodiversity: it’s a large-scale monoculture, creating a true biological desert.”

To significantly reduce agriculture’s footprint—whether in terms of water, biodiversity, or soil quality—there must be mobilization across the entire supply chain: producers, food groups, and cooperatives,” he added.

Cultural Shift(s)

Why not replace these crops with alternatives that consume less water, such as sorghum, widely grown in Africa? “Because changing a crop means rethinking an entire supply chain, upstream and downstream,” Simon Bestel reminded. Altering agricultural practices is not something that can be done on the margins: these transformations are deep, costly, and gradual. “To significantly reduce agriculture’s footprint, whether in terms of water, biodiversity, or soil quality, the entire supply chain needs to be mobilized: producers, food groups, and cooperatives,” he added.

In this context, renewing practices can also involve renewing generations, explained FEVE’s co-founder, who particularly supports young farmers. “When we install a new operator, we have more room to rethink crops and test new models. These changes require a lot of foresight and, therefore, reliable data to allow farmers to project into the future.”

Identifying the Right Indicators

For companies, defining relevant indicators to assess their dependence on natural resources and their environmental impact is a major challenge. This is the goal of ENCORE, a tool developed by Global Canopy, which helps companies—and particularly financial institutions—identify sectors and economic activities most exposed to nature-related risks. “ENCORE was designed as a first step to help businesses understand where to focus their analysis and which activities to prioritize,” explained Fiona Pedeboy, associate researcher within Global Canopy’s Nature Finance team. The tool, recommended by the TNFD, offers a sectoral mapping of the materiality of dependencies and impacts associated with nature, such as land use, water consumption, or the presence of invasive species.

However, access to data remains a significant barrier, particularly in agriculture. “If we could cross-reference data at the scale of watersheds and farms, we would have a much finer understanding of the impacts and improvement levers,” observed Simon Bestel. But these data, if they exist, are often difficult to access and complex to use: “The IDEA4 method, developed by INRAE, allows for evaluating farm sustainability, but like many research tools, it is cumbersome to implement, with a large amount of data to collect and analyze.”

The rise of artificial intelligence could facilitate the processing and use of this data. “By automatically aggregating information from farms or equipment suppliers, we could obtain a synthetic overview at the level of each farm,” said Simon Bestel. Satellite imagery and drones also offer promising prospects, particularly for analyzing crop conditions, soil quality, and anticipating issues like diseases.

Levers for Accelerating Transformation

The “price signal” was identified by the participants as an important lever to encourage businesses to better manage water, as this resource remains relatively inexpensive in France, particularly for agriculture. Guillaume Sainteny cited Israel’s example, where a water policy reform led to a price increase for all users. “As a result, everyone started repairing leaks, and start-ups specializing in smart metering—water leak detection and measurement—emerged.”

Integrating environmental issues into business decisions also requires better anticipation of the impacts of their projects. “In most countries, businesses are now required to conduct an impact study before launching a project,” he continued. These evaluations, introduced in the US in the 1970s before being adopted in France and Europe, aim to identify potential environmental, health, or space consumption effects. They rely on the ERC doctrine: Avoid, Reduce, Compensate. “The primary goal is to avoid the impact as much as possible, but that’s rarely entirely achievable. We then aim to mitigate it, for example, by adjusting the route of a road or the location of a wind farm to reduce nuisances,” he further explained. Compensation should only be a last resort, applied to residual effects that cannot be eliminated.

Participants also expressed concerns about compensation mechanisms, particularly for wetlands. “While carbon compensation can make sense, because one ton of carbon equals another ton of carbon, a hectare of wetland cannot be replaced by another hectare elsewhere, due to the unique ecological specifics of each site,” warned Guillaume Sainteny.

Optimizing Resource Use

Beyond water management, participants emphasized the need for a broader reflection on space occupation, particularly regarding soil artificialization, an issue mainly related to buildings and infrastructure. “In France, artificialization is progressing faster than the European average, with increasing soil sealing that exacerbates pressure on water resources and affects biodiversity,” reminded Guillaume Sainteny, encouraging businesses to take action to de-seal soils and, more broadly, limit their artificialization by favoring the reuse of existing infrastructure rather than urban expansion. “Space is a resource in itself: prioritizing the renovation of vacant homes rather than artificializing new land is a more sustainable resource management approach,” added Simon Bestel.

Limiting soil artificialization also means preserving ecosystems and the services they provide. Yet, biodiversity remains an underestimated issue, particularly in agriculture, where it is still difficult to measure. “We have tools to analyze soil biodiversity, which can give an indirect indication of overall biodiversity on a farm, but it’s still difficult to generalize these methods on a large scale,” said Simon Bestel, who believes that solutions to improve agricultural biodiversity are well-known: replanting hedges, diversifying crops, favoring cover crops, or developing meadows. But without reliable indicators, these practices remain poorly valued.

On the topic of resource optimization, participants also mentioned the textile industry, where some players focus on reuse and repair, extending the life of their products. “This is a real counterpoint to traditional industry,” emphasized Simon Bestel. “It involves a complete reconfiguration of businesses, which are no longer in a continuous consumption of resources but in an approach aimed at making the best use of existing materials and prolonging their use.”

Raising Consumer Awareness on Resource Management

The workshop concluded with the importance of raising consumer awareness about the preservation of natural resources. In the agri-food sector in particular, a key lever would be improving information on the environmental footprint of products, particularly through clearer labels. “Today, consumers are unaware of the real impact of their purchases, particularly on water or biodiversity. However, if they knew that a product had a very negative impact, they might be encouraged to opt for an alternative that might be more expensive but more responsible,” suggested Simon Bestel.

But implementing such tools still faces obstacles, particularly limited access to data. “If this information were more accessible, industrial players would be forced to adapt. I think some products would sell less, others much better, and that would partly redirect the supply chains,” continued FEVE’s co-founder.

Content written by Max Morgene.