Climate change has changed Germany’s focus. Local restrictions on water use have been introduced and are expected to become more widespread in the future. In addition, the environmental costs of global water pollution and scarcity are an important issue for German businesses with global operations and value chains.
While water pollution and water withdrawal tend to be measured and assessed separately, they are closely interconnected: water withdrawal increases the concentration of harmful substances in water bodies, leading to more harmful pollution levels.
After analyzing the available data bases, models and scientific literature, we reached the conclusion that data and methods are currently insufficient to develop value factors that can account for these different parameters in a satisfactory way and capture the average or main effects. With the exception of the value factors regarding eutrophication, we cannot recommend value factors that are fit for purpose in a more general context (regional/national/global).
Further information can be found in Chapter 10 of the Handbook on Environmental Value Factors – Methodological Convention 4.0 for the Assessment of Environmental Impacts.