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By Simon Gottelier – Manager, BNP Paribas Aqua Fund, Impax Asset Management
That bottle of water on your desk likely cost many times more than its equivalent in petrol. No wonder investments in water have outperformed global indices by a considerable margin in recent years. But first, let’s put this in context.
Almost all of the water on earth is salt water, approximately 2.5% considered ‘fresh’. Of this, less than 1% is accessible surface water. In many areas, the water is polluted, exacerbating the supply constraint(1).
Additionally, while fresh water supplies are relatively static, global populations are expected to increase from under 7 billion to 9 billion by 2050(2). And much of this population growth is occurring in developing...
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