On March 30, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) released a provisional Water Utilities Sustainability Accounting Standard. The standard is for voluntary use by publicly listed corporations for disclosure of sustainability information required for mandatory filings for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The provisional standard covers publicly traded water, wastewater and stormwater utilities. Although AMWA members are not publicly traded companies, the association submitted two comment letters to SASB outlining concerns about how water sector utilities were inaccurately portrayed in the draft standards. AMWA’s comment letters emphasized the importance of accurately describing the sector in the SASB’s standards documents.
A preliminary review of the newly released provisional standards indicates that many of AMWA’s comments and concerns were addressed. For example, the narrative describing disclosure topics and accounting metrics was improved throughout the document. In the coming months, AMWA plans further discussions with SASB staff on concerns identified with the provisional standards. SASB staff has described the provisional standards period as a time of “deepening engagement” with the broader stakeholder community. Additional information is in AMWA’s latest Sustainability and Security Report.