A Strategic Briefing with Will Sarni
Water is increasingly emerging as one of the most important—and least understood—drivers of economic risk and opportunity. Long treated as a low-cost, abundant input, water is now revealing itself as a constraint on business operations, supply chains, and long-term resilience.
In The Last Drop: A Strategic Briefing, Green Alpha Investments hosted a conversation with Will Sarni, a globally recognized leader in corporate water strategy, technology innovation, and sustainable investing, who has spent over two decades advising Fortune 50 companies on water, climate, and energy solutions.
Watch the Recording
Key Insights from the Discussion
Water Is Mispriced—and That Assumption Is Breaking
For decades, water has been treated as a near-zero cost input in economic models. That paradigm is shifting. As scarcity, regulation, and infrastructure constraints intensify, water is becoming a visible and financially material factor in decision-making.
Risk Is Local, but Impact Is Global
Water challenges are inherently local—driven by geography, infrastructure, and policy. But their consequences extend globally, particularly through supply chains. This creates a layer of risk that is often difficult to detect, but increasingly difficult to ignore.
Scarcity Is About More Than Quantity
In many regions, the issue is not absolute scarcity, but access and quality. Water may exist, but not in a usable or affordable form. This distinction is critical in understanding both risk and opportunity.
Innovation Is Advancing—But Scaling Remains the Challenge
From water reuse and desalination to digital monitoring and decentralized systems, innovation is accelerating. However, fragmentation across capital, infrastructure, and policy continues to slow widespread adoption.
Collaboration Is Essential
Addressing water challenges requires coordination across corporations, governments, startups, and investors. The most meaningful progress is happening through partnerships that align incentives and enable scale.
Why This Matters
Water is no longer just an environmental issue—it is a system-level constraint that intersects with economic growth, corporate performance, and societal stability.
As these dynamics continue to evolve, we believe water will play an increasingly important role in how:
- Companies manage risk and build resilience
- Investors allocate capital
- Systems adapt to a more resource-constrained future
Understanding water is, in many ways, understanding the Next Economy.
Continue the Conversation
If you’d like to learn more about how we think about water, systemic risks, and the Next Economy, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
About Will Sarni
Will Sarni is a globally recognized leader in water strategy and innovation, advising multinational corporations, investors, and NGOs on water risk and sustainability. He is Founder and General Partner of Water Foundry Ventures and previously founded Water Foundry (acquired by Earth Finance in 2024).
With a career spanning corporate strategy and investing, Will is known for combining visionary thinking with practical execution—previously serving as Managing Director at Deloitte, where he led the firm’s water strategy practice, and earlier founding sustainability firm DOMANI. He has received international recognition for his influence, including being named to Worth Magazine’s Worthy 100 in 2022.
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