E3 Water and marine resources  

We have identified the following sub-topics for the ESRS E3 Water and Marine Resources to be material: water consumption, water withdrawals and water discharges to the ocean. We recognize the importance of water as a finite and vital resource and we encourage its responsible use, which is crucial in mitigating environmental impacts and water scarcity while supporting access to water. With Arcadis being a primarily office-based consultancy and engineering company, our own water use is limited to water used for drinking, cleaning and sanitation and water management is addressed via our Environmental Management System.

We performed an analysis of 320 Arcadis office locations for which sufficient data was available with the WWF Biodiversity Risk Filter. We had sufficient information to include 295 locations in our analysis, and we did not identify any that demonstrate high risk scores (>3.4) for water scarcity. Of the sites able to be analyzed, we determined that 39 sites may develop water scarcity issues over time as a result of increasing drought conditions.

The far bigger impact Arcadis has on water use is through the work we perform for clients. We assist a variety of clients in managing water resources in a sustainable way by offering a full breadth of services throughout the entire water cycle, from water supply to water resource planning, treatment, and systems optimization. We help create intelligent water networks and advanced asset management strategies, as well as advising on water re-use and desalination for both public and private clients.

Impacts, risks and opportunities

Policies related to water and marine resources  

We have a specific Water Reduction Policy. This policy outlines our approach to reducing water consumption within our operations and encourages sustainable water practices among clients. This policy establishes design effectiveness by addressing material IROs in Arcadis’ value chain.

The goals of the Water Reduction Policy are to:

• Identify how Arcadis affects water and marine resources in terms of positive and negative material impacts, including both actual and potential impacts.

• Report annually to our various stakeholders, via our Sustainability Statement, what actions we have taken – and the result of such actions – to prevent or mitigate material actual or potential negative impacts, and to address risks and opportunities. This is in terms of actions to protect water and marine resources, also with reference to reduction of water consumption.

• Assess whether, how and to what extent Arcadis contributes to the European Green Deal’s ambitions for fresh air, clean water, healthy soil and biodiversity, as well as to the sustainability of the blue economy and fisheries sectors. In doing so, we take into account the following: Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU Water Framework Directive), Directive 2008/56/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive), Directive 2014/89/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU Maritime Spatial Planning Directive), the Sustainable Development Goals (in particular SDG 6 Clean water and sanitation and SDG 14 Life below water), and respect of global environmental limits (e.g., biosphere integrity, ocean acidification, freshwater use, biogeochemical flows, and planetary boundaries).  

• Describe to stakeholders our plans and capacity to adapt our strategy and business model in line with the promotion of sustainable water use based on long-term protection of available water resources, protection of aquatic ecosystems, and restoration of freshwater and marine habitats.

• Outline to stakeholders how we manage our material risks and opportunities arising from our impacts and dependencies on water and marine resources.

• Provide insight for stakeholders into the financial effects over the short-, medium- and long-term of material risks and opportunities arising from our impacts and dependencies on water and marine resources.

The Water Reduction Policy's scope applies to Arcadis’ office-based activities globally, including the spaces leased by Arcadis in multi-tenant buildings with shared common facilities. It also applies to our project activities for clients, and our activities with suppliers in our upstream and downstream value chain.

Our Water Reduction Policy also calls for us to report and disclose progress on our water reduction activities as well as review our policy periodically to confirm its effectiveness and relevance. We will also update the policy to align with changing business conditions, stakeholder expectations, and regulatory requirements.

The Chief Growth Officer is the member of the Executive Leadership Team who is responsible for sustainability, including accountability for the implementation of the Water Reduction Policy.

Actions and resources related to water and marine resources 

The actions and resources related to our Water Reduction Policy are global in nature as Arcadis is a global company. Key internal stakeholders related to water and marine resources are our employees, while key external stakeholders related to this policy are clients, suppliers and people touched by the projects undertaken by Arcadis on behalf of its clients.

Own operations  

As described in our Water Reduction Policy, we evaluate and report to stakeholders our water use associated with our network of offices annually and take action to:

• Identify and select new leased office facilities in which water efficiency is prioritized, whenever feasible.

• Minimize water use within Arcadis’ facilities and operations by creating greater water-use awareness and installing efficient fixtures and technologies.

• Regularly monitor and review water consumption data in our own operations to assess progress.

• Report on water consumption and savings annually.

These actions provide operational effectiveness for material IROs in our own operations.

The expected outcome of these steps is a reduction in water use in our operations; however, the lack of base year information does not make a progress assessment possible in this reporting year.

The above actions in our own operations are ongoing under our Environmental Management System Policy and will be continued in the coming years.

Value chain  

As described in our Water Reduction Policy, over time, in alignment with the phase-in of CSRD requirements, we will conduct water risk assessments across Arcadis’ suite of solutions to identify where actual or potential material negative or positive impacts occur or may occur over the short-, medium-, and long-term. Based on these solution-level risk assessments, as described in our Water Reduction Policy, Arcadis will:

• Work collaboratively with clients to identify, design, and implement water-saving, treatment and reuse measures in their projects and operations.

• Work collaboratively with suppliers to identify water-saving opportunities in our supply chain.

• Monitor and report water use-related data in our upstream and downstream supply chain where possible.

These actions will provide operational effectiveness for material IROs in our value chain.

The expected outcome of these steps is that we help our clients achieve water use reductions in their projects. Our intention is to make that reduction visible once a measurement and reporting approach has been developed for client-related work as part of our Project Water initiative which will support achieving the goals of our Water Reduction Policy.

The above actions are already being performed in projects for clients on an as-requested basis, and we aim for further integration of this approach in our client projects over time which will support achieving the goals of our Water Reduction Policy.

Through its EMS standard, Arcadis tracks the effectiveness of its water policy and actions in relation to material impacts, risks and opportunities for its own operations. EMS processes include the development of action plans to address material sustainable topics, including water. These plans will list the actions to undertake, the resources required, the responsible party, the timeline, progress measurement tools and measurement, as well as reporting. Ambitions will be formulated if base year information is assessed to be of sufficient granularity and quality. Indicators will be the amount of water used, and saved on an annual basis, measured in cubic meters. For value-chain related activities, we will use the phase-in period to develop a similar step-by-step action plan.

Targets related to water and marine resources 

In the years to come, we intend to monitor the effectiveness of our actions described in our Water Reduction Policy, which was introduced in 2024. Our Environmental Management System is the primary process we will use to track quantitative effectiveness of our policies and actions. As we have not yet begun tracking the effectiveness of our actions, we have not yet specified our defined level of ambition to be achieved when tracking the effectiveness of our policy and actions.

Water consumption in own operations

In 2024, our total water consumption at our offices was an estimated 610,000 m³. Due to the complexities of data collection, we used a mixture of data sources to derive this value. The methodology is described below:

• For 21% of our offices, data are based on actual water consumption which is recorded monthly.

• For 8% of our offices, data are estimated monthly based on the actual water consumption of the whole building, scaled for Arcadis' floor area share.

• For 43% of our offices, data are estimates which will be updated in the future when final utility invoices become available.

• For 28% of our offices, data are estimations based on average consumption data derived from public sources, scaled based on our office employee FTEs (without contingent workers) and Arcadis-specific average office attendance per country. The average office attendance has been calculated based on our annual global survey on commuting and WFH behavior which has been sent to all Arcadis employees globally and answered by 23% of our employees. This survey has been completed by the end of October and includes estimations for November and December.

We are working on increasing the share of actual data in our calculations for 2025. Please see the Glossary for additional information.

17 m³ of water are being stored or recycled and reused at Arcadis offices. No changes in storage volume took place in 2024, based on actual data. No water is consumed in areas at water risk, including areas of high water stress.

Arcadis’ water intensity globally is 157 m³ per million EUR net revenue.