On the role of water utility governance for climate resilience: A Corporate Social Responsibility Directive approach

Abstract

It is widely recognized that climate change poses one of the main threats to human beings and businesses reliant on natural resources and vulnerable to climate-related events. Given the importance of water as indispensable for individual well-being, water utilities must prioritize climate preparedness to ensure high-quality service production. This effort involves, for instance, adopting a long-term planning approach and implementing measures to adapt to evolving conditions, reduce climate change vulnerabilities, and maintain the production of clean drinking water and wastewater services. According to the literature, governance is recognized as crucial to integrate climate change within the organization, but scholars are also calling for a deeper understanding of how it could be reorganized effectively to handle climate change and guarantee organizational resilience in the long term. Based on the governance framework proposed by the new Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSR-d), the research explores if and how AQUA, an Italian water utility, can integrate climate change within its governance. The results suggest that the utility considers climate change from the agility, adaptive, and transformative perspectives depending on the governance dimensions considered. Implications for management and policymakers are discussed.