Read our annual Operating Environment Scan to understand the opportunities and risks that may impact the water industry – globally, and within Greater Melbourne.
The scan includes the following types of trends:
- social
- technological
- economic
- environmental
- political.
We encourage our customers and stakeholders to consider the impact of these trends when planning their immediate and future work.
Current and emerging trends
The 2020 Operating Environment Scan identified four key drivers of change and associated trends. These have been categorised as current and emerging, to differentiate the big challenges currently affecting society from emerging issues not yet widespread.
| Key driver | Current trends | Emerging trends |
|---|---|---|
| 1: Ecological Crisis |
Climate Tipping Points; |
|
| 2: Shifting Social Fabrics and Values |
Fractured Society; |
Focus on Health |
| 3: Changes of Global Powers | The Crisis of Liberal Democracies; Global Economy in Flux |
The Digital Government; Capitalism on the Edge |
| 4: Digitisation and Acceleration of Technology | Maturity of Transformative Technology; Business and Work 2.0; Urbanisation and the Reshaping of Cities |
Trends most likely to occur
We scored the trends’ likelihood and consequence, as well as our preparedness to respond to them, to determine their perceived level of impact on our business in the next five years.
The top three trends ranked as most likely to occur, with the biggest potential consequences, were:
- Climate change
- Acceleration of technology and business
- Work 2.0
These differ from the 2019 and 2018 Operating Environment Scans, which identified the top three trends as climate change, urbanisation and societal shifts.
We are already working to meet these challenges, and considering what can be improved.
Download the report