Nestle Chairman Peter Brabeck has a new mountain to climb. The 67-year-old is trying to goad world leaders into action to avert a looming water crisis.

The Austrian leads the world’s biggest food and beverage company but has developed a passion for the water issue as he believes it is critical to the long-term future of the producer of brands like Nespresso and KitKat.

Nestle is also the top seller of bottled water, putting Brabeck on a collision course with some environmental and human rights activists who oppose any role for the private sector in providing of the ultimate elixir of life.

“Running water is the most important resource on the mountain,” Brabeck wrote of an expedition he made in 2008 to climb Chile’s Aconcagua peak – the highest in the Americas – as colleagues melted ice to drink at a high altitude camp.

via Nestle’s Mr Water more worried about H2O than CO2 | Reuters.