????嘉吉公司（Cargill）CEO彭國瑞要求我們所有人考慮一下，做一件大家都非常討厭的事情：掏更多的錢來購買某件東西?！拔覀冊噲D讓人們明白，價格是實現(xiàn)可持續(xù)發(fā)展真正必要的元素之一?！?月17日，他對《財富》綠色頭腦風(fēng)暴大會（Fortune's Brainstorm Green）的與會者這樣說道。

????另一位專題討論小組成員、大自然保護協(xié)會（Nature Conservancy）CEO馬克?特瑟克則認為，水是工商界領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人需要重新定價的主要資源之一。他說:“由于水資源向來都是免費的，農(nóng)業(yè)領(lǐng)域有時瘋狂地使用水資源。有些地方一直在種植不合適的農(nóng)產(chǎn)品?！?/p>

????然而，對水這種免費資源進行投資的機會有可能源自一個意想不到的領(lǐng)域，即天然氣鉆探。麥肯錫咨詢公司（McKinsey & Co）主管迪肯?皮納說：“我認為，頁巖氣是那個可以讓水資源具備投資價值的東西。”

????采用一種名為水力壓裂法的油氣井增產(chǎn)技術(shù)鉆探天然氣需要耗費大量水資源。由于多方面的原因，這項技術(shù)一直充滿爭議，但主要原因在于鉆探用水有可能遭到污染。皮納說，這是一個迫切需要解決的問題，如果清潔水事關(guān)企業(yè)的經(jīng)濟利益，它將有助于這個問題的解決。

????“我們正在進行相當規(guī)模的投資，”西門子公司（Siemens Corp.）總裁兼首席執(zhí)行官埃里克?施皮格爾承認?！霸S多開采公司正在探索方法，希望百分之一百地回收鉆探用水。這是一個巨大的商機?！?/p>

????農(nóng)業(yè)公司也必須得改進其他方面的定價模式。農(nóng)業(yè)部門面臨的挑戰(zhàn)十分巨大——它必須為養(yǎng)活數(shù)量不斷增長的世界人口作出貢獻。據(jù)麥肯錫公司預(yù)測，在未來20年中，這個星球必須為30多億中產(chǎn)消費者的生活提供支持。

????這些人將使用大量資源，同時要求公司進一步提高透明度。彭國瑞說：“在一個一切無所遁形的世界，最好不要有任何見不得人的東西。”

????外界提高了對透明性的要求，這一點已經(jīng)影響了嘉吉公司應(yīng)對新市場增長機會的方式。比如，彭國瑞舉了個例子，稱許多公司需要增加對非洲耕地的開發(fā)力度，以滿足未來人口的糧食需求。他問道：“如此一來，整體目標是以盡可能廉價的方式提高食物產(chǎn)量，還是在做到這一點的同時，最大限度地考慮原住民的利益呢？”如同計算清潔水的真實成本一樣，大型農(nóng)業(yè)公司也必須想清楚，如何計算讓當?shù)厝藚⑴c進來所具有的價值。

????譯者：任文科

????Cargill CEO Greg Page is going to ask us all to think about doing something we hate: pay more for some stuff. "We try to get people to think about price as one of the real necessary elements for sustainability," he tells attendees at Fortune's Brainstorm Green conference on April 17.

????One of the main resources that leaders need to re-price is water, says another panelist, Nature Conservancy CEO Mark Tercek: "Because water has been free, we've had some crazy uses of water in the agriculture space where the wrong things have been grown in the wrong places."

????Yet opportunities for investment in what is now a free resource could come from an unexpected area: drilling for natural gas. "In my mind, shale gas is the thing that will make water investable," says Dickon Pinner, a principal at McKinsey & Co.

????Drilling for gas requires an enormous amount of water, used in a well-stimulation method known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking." The method is controversial for several reasons, but one primary reason has to do with the potential contamination of water used in the process. It is an urgent problem, and the fact that companies will have a financial stake in clean water could help fix it, Pinner says.

????"We're doing quite a bit of investment," admits Siemens Corp. president and CEO Eric Spiegel. "A lot of the drillers are looking for ways to recycle 100% of that water, and that is huge opportunity."

????Agriculture companies will have to revamp other aspects of their pricing model as well. The challenge the industry faces is huge – it will have to help feed a world whose population is only growing. According to estimates from McKinsey, the planet will have to support more than 3 billion middle-class consumers over the next 20 years.

????Those people are going to use a tremendous amount of resources and demand a greater degree of corporate transparency. "In a world where nothing can be hidden, you better have nothing to hide," says Page.

????The greater need for transparency has already affected the way Cargill approaches growth in new markets. For instance, many companies will need to ramp up the development of arable land in Africa to meet the food demands of the future population, Page says. "So, is the whole goal to raise as many calories as cheaply as possible, or is it to do it in a manner that engages the maximum share of the indigenous population?" he asks. Like the true cost of clean water, the value of engaging local people is something that Big Ag must figure out how to calculate.