The Royal Society of New Zealand has released a discussion paper this week that suggests water sustainability will be unavoidable and using a water footprint on labelling will benefit New Zealand exports.
The information suggested for the label would measure the volume of water used in the life cycle of a product or service.
The International Organisation for Standardisation is already developing a water footprint protocol, which New Zealand companies such as kiwifruit exporter Zespri stand to benefit from. Royal Society NZ analyst Jez Weston said: “If you did this in the right way, it would be a big advantage… compare us to a lot of overseas products and we are a lot less water-stressed.”
