That is the primary of a four-part collection taking a better have a look at how 72 corporations in 4 industries — beverage, attire, meals and high-tech — carried out in Ceres’ new Valuing Water Finance Initiative Benchmark report, which assesses how corporations are valuing and performing on water as a monetary danger and driving the systemic modifications wanted to guard freshwater techniques around the globe.

The world is operating out of water, a disaster that the beverage business, which depends so closely on water for practically each stage of manufacturing, is aware of all too properly. But whereas extra beverage corporations are making strides in responding to this menace by utilizing much less water, they should make comparable progress in managing water air pollution — together with from pesticides, herbicides and fungicides — that’s the results of making the drinks we get pleasure from day-after-day. 

Water is a shared useful resource. So polluted discharges and runoff — most of which stem from the practices used to develop the crops utilized by the business, together with sugar, barley and tea — pose severe well being dangers to communities and ecosystems. This interprets to a monetary danger for corporations. Contributing to water air pollution threatens the availability of fresh water corporations want to provide their merchandise and exposes them to the danger of dropping their license to function — or dealing with fines or penalties. 

A latest Ceres report, benchmarking water stewardship amongst 17 world beverage corporations highlights how corporations from throughout the business can shut the gaps on addressing water high quality points — though most have important work forward. Listed below are steps beverage corporations can take to raised mitigate their water high quality impacts:

Set up water high quality targets

Firms have to set targets to cut back the unfavorable impacts of their direct operations on water high quality. However solely 4 corporations we analyzed have performed that. 

PepsiCo is amongst these making progress. The corporate has set a technique that addresses water high quality. As an illustration, as a part of its purpose of changing into internet water optimistic in all of its operations, the corporate is working towards making certain all wastewater produced by its manufacturing services adhere to excessive environmental safety requirements outlined within the firm’s Discharge of Course of Wastewater Normal, which aligns with the World Financial institution’s Worldwide Finance Council and Enterprise for Social Accountability’s Sustainable Water Group standards. 

One other promising instance is Heineken, which has a water air pollution discount goal for this yr making certain one hundred pc of wastewater from its breweries is handled earlier than being discharged into floor water. 

Firms must also disclose details about wastewater discharges from their operations, in order that they — and their traders — have a real understanding of their impacts and the way they’ll handle them. Our findings had been encouraging, with 14 out of 17 corporations reporting how a lot wastewater is launched from all operations. Moreover, 12 of the businesses present details about the pollution of concern which are of their wastewater discharges. These embody pesticides, fertilizers, phthalates and bisphenol A — recognized extra generally as BPA — that may have an effect on well being or the surroundings. Some corporations additionally present particulars about potential water high quality threats from pollution, starting from sediment loading, which is dangerous to aquatic life, to the leaching or draining of chemical substances into groundwater, to algae blooms from extra nitrogen.

Concentrate on provide chains

As essential as it’s for corporations to set objectives to cut back water high quality impacts for his or her direct operations or disclose their impacts, one other obvious hole that beverage corporations should handle is assessing water use inside provide chains. Tackling water high quality points inside provide chains is essential as a result of a considerable portion of potential air pollution happens throughout agricultural manufacturing. Firms akin to ABinBev are shifting in the precise path. The corporate’s World Barley Analysis Middle and analysis companions develop barley crop administration protocols to tell farmers’ nutrient purposes. Agronomists then present farmers tailor-made nutrient administration recommendation to assist guarantee their practices obtain good yields whereas minimizing the danger of nutrient air pollution.

Assessing dangers and challenges 

Buyers with a stake in beverage corporations are amongst these paying extra consideration to water high quality repercussions from the business. Addressing unfavorable impacts to water high quality throughout corporations’ worth chains is among the many six Company Expectations that traders established final yr as a part of Ceres’ Valuing Water Finance Initiative, a world investor-led effort to have interaction giant corporations to behave on water as a monetary danger and make the large-scale modifications wanted to raised shield freshwater provides. 

Our new benchmark assesses the water administration practices of 72 corporations which are the main target of the initiative — the beverage corporations amongst them — towards the expectations, which set an ambition for corporations to succeed in by 2030. This timeline is essential to slowing the tempo of deteriorating water assets threatening communities, ecosystems and economies throughout the globe and assembly the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Growth Aim for Water (SDG6).

Rising demand for drinks and ensuing water impacts, paired with escalating water shortage and air pollution throughout the globe, will proceed to lift monetary dangers dealing with the beverage business. Firms have to confront these challenges head-on, elevating sustainable water administration — particularly the place present efforts are missing — as a essential precedence.