Best water-related disclosures judged in CSRD Awards 2025

The results are in for the water category of the awards, with three companies shortlisted

Danone has won the award for the best water disclosures in REP’s CSRD Awards 2025, with commendations for Kering and LVMH. 

The French food giant’s latest sustainability statement was praised for its “clear and detailed” disclosures by a panel of judges comprising: 

• Cate Lamb, CEO of water advisory firm CascadeX and a freshwater specialist at the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative. Cate was previously the head of water for CDP.   
• Allen Townsend, a senior programme officer for freshwater metrics and stewardship at WWF, and co-lead of the Science Based Targets Network’s (SBTN) freshwater hub. 
• Monika Freyman, vice president of sustainable investment at Addenda Capital, and ex- director of water at US-based responsible investment body Ceres.  

Their comments have been anonymised, because some of the judges are not permitted to opine publicly on individual companies.    

Danone 

Danone’s water-related reporting was described as the most detailed of those shortlisted, and praised for its readability and comprehensiveness  

One judge said the firm’s disclosures provided “a very clear and detailed picture of its water stewardship journey through its well-established policy, highly-operationalised strategy, and strong community engagement”.   

Others commended Danone’s operational risk mapping, in which it was “explicit about where it operates in water-stressed areas and what proportion of sites are affected”. 

Another judge praised the company for going beyond reporting on risks, and addressing water-related opportunities in its reporting, too. 

“The report makes it clear that the deployment of the 4R [Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Reclaim] strategy across 99.3% of sites is not just about risk management, but an efficiency and resilience opportunity,” they said. 

Kering  

Kering’s report was recognised for its “forward-looking, transformative vision and groundbreaking external validation, which clearly signals advancement in its water strategy”. 

Its decision to get validation from SBTN was praised as a sign of “a cutting-edge approach to water management”.

While Kering’s sophistication was appreciated, the judges also noted that it could make the disclosures less reader-friendly.  

One described the report as “more technically advanced and target-oriented than explanatory, with the disclosure geared more to strategic ambition than a straightforward Impacts, Risks and Opportunities explanation”.    

Kering’s decision to quantify its water dependencies using an Environmental Profit & Loss approach was described by another judge as “innovative, but maybe less intuitive to non-specialists”. 

Providing water-related indicators alongside financial metrics “would broaden the reports usefulness to financial institutions who would like to assess the company’s exposure themselves,” they added.  

LVMH 

LVMH’s report was commended for being “solid” and “strong”. 

The luxury goods firm offers a “clear and well-organised picture of its water stewardship journey, showing a methodical approach of measuring, managing risks, and integration of water in its broader environmental strategy across its many businesses,” said one judge.    

But they also wanted to see a clearer link between the information being disclosed and the core business, with one judge observing a “lack of information on key strategic commodities or supply chain risks that are really material”.   

Real Economy Progress would like to congratulate all three companies for being shortlisted, and thank them for providing best practice examples for other firms around the world to follow.    

We would also like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our judges for lending their expertise to this process, and truly engaging with the content and aims of these reports.    

And finally, thanks to all the regulators, consultants, lawyers, journalists, NGOs and companies who submitted nominations to this year’s CSRD Awards.    

Important notes    

The judges were chosen as topic experts, and their decisions do not represent the views of their employers.    

The awards are a celebration of best practice disclosure, not sustainability performance, and the outcome should not be seen as an endorsement of any company – either by the judges, their organisations, or Real Economy Progress.   

The category shortlists were compiled by Real Economy Progress journalists from public nominations. The judges were then asked to decide, individually, which ones were most effective in helping them understand the relevant risks, impacts and opportunities of the business.