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Advancing Water Stewardship and Resiliency
Corporate water stewardship is essential for business success. It is also fundamental to creating a positive future for people, planet and business health.
Ecolab helps businesses around the world achieve ambitious sustainability goals by reducing freshwater use and increasing water resiliency which helps safeguard against current and future water stress. We have been helping businesses excel for more than a century and have proven experience helping our customers build water strategies that serve as a roadmap to sustainability and profitability.
Water Stewardship at Ecolab
At Ecolab, we have a robust water stewardship strategy and work tirelessly to minimize our own water footprint. We believe in the importance of water in protecting the environment, human health and economic development in our local communities.
Through our stewardship, we identify and support opportunities for our company and customers to use water resources in ways that are socially and culturally equitable, economically beneficial and environmentally sustainable.
Supporting Corporate Water Stewardship
Ecolab’s Smart Water Navigator helps organizations execute localized corporate water strategies to increase business and community resilience.
Smart Solutions for Water Resiliency
With unique expertise in water quality and management programs and solutions, we’re driven to help customers advance efficient operations and responsible growth.
Working Together to Protect our World’s Water Resources
Ecolab believes in the power of partnerships to address global water challenges. That’s why we are a founding member and co-chair of the Water Resilience Coalition, an industry-led initiative of the UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate.
In 2023, the WRC launched the WRC Investment Portfolio and unveiled the WaterEquity Global Access Fund IV. Five WRC member companies, including Ecolab, came together to invest alongside the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and bring the impact investment fund total to $150 million.
Our Water Goals
Water is a key part of our 2030 Positive Impact, which focuses on the net benefits that our company can bring to communities and the world by the end of the decade.
Driving a Net-Positive Water Approach in Our Own Facilities
Our vision of a water-resilient future relies on tangible action. For Ecolab, that means continuing to drive corporate water management with our customers while identifying opportunities to implement water stewardship projects in our own operations.
To continue to make progress toward our 2030 Positive Impact, Ecolab has prioritized water stewardship projects at our sites with the aim of improving the overall health of the local watersheds. Our projects will use a three-pathway strategy to achieve a net-positive water impact by:
- Delivering outcomes through the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard
- Increasing water-use efficiency, reuse and recycling via Ecolab solutions and digital technologies
- Protecting local watersheds
Our Three-Pathway Strategy:
1. Delivering Outcomes Through the Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard
Ecolab is a founding member of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS). The AWS standard empowers sites with a five-step framework to address site-related water challenges and manage risk. Sites are required to reach out to stakeholders to discuss shared water challenges, forming relationships with the communities in which they operate.
As part of our efforts to reach Net Positive Water Impact, we achieved AWS certifications at Ecolab manufacturing facilities in China, Mexico, Brazil and the United States.
Ecolab is currently pursuing AWS certification for the following facilities.
We invite stakeholders to provide comment on the sites undergoing audit as described in the following documents:
- Ecolab Pune, India: Public comments due December 9, 2024
- Ecolab Santiago, Chile Plant: Public comments due December 3, 2024
- Ecolab Greensboro Plant: Public comments due October 14, 2024
10 Total AWS-Certified Sites
2. Increasing Water-Use Efficiency, Reuse and Recycling on Site Using Ecolab Solutions and Digital Technologies
Managing 1 trillion gallons of water annually, Ecolab’s team of experts helps customers identify and implement water resiliency solutions that support local watersheds.
Through Ecolab solutions including Ecolab Water for Climate, Water Flow Intelligence, 3D TRASAR™ and digital tools like the Smart Water Navigator, we support smart water management practices to reduce demand and improve water quality while optimizing costs at the facility and organizational level.
3. Protecting The Local Watershed
We work with partners to understand the shared water challenges in their local basin and address them with nature-based solutions.
Watersheds face a variety of risks, including water scarcity and water quality, accelerating impacts of climate change and loss of local species.
As a founding member of the Water Resilience Coalition, we work collectively to achieve Net Positive Water Impact through public-private partnerships, policy, technology and a roadmap to reach the WRC’s goals for 100 priority basins by 2030. Through the work of the WRC, we know that 150 companies can directly impact approximately one-third of the world’s water use, which means that industry has a unique responsibility and opportunity to address the global water crisis.
Our corporate water stewardship plans outline the actions we will take within our plants, as well as the communities in which we operate.
Our Expertise
Ecolab has a unique understanding of the role water plays in running a business. Our holistic water expertise helps customers across nearly every industry use less water and better manage the water they use, from everyday uses to complex process challenges.
Beyond Volumes:
Exploring the Societal Value of Corporate Water Stewardship Projects
As water challenges grow more pressing, an increasing number of companies are pursuing corporate water stewardship projects. Traditionally, companies have used volumetric water benefit accounting to estimate volumetric water benefits and identify, select and monitor projects. But these projects impact more than volume, generating many co-benefits that improve conditions for society. This whitepaper, released by Ecolab and other partners, aims to show the link between volumetric water benefits and societal value, helping demonstrate for companies the holistic value of corporate water stewardship projects.
Water Stewardship Project Highlights
The following case studies showcase our Ecolab plants that have received AWS certification:
Our Partnerships
Our commitments and partnerships with leading nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) strengthen our understanding and ability to impact global challenges facing our business, customers and communities. Our key engagements include:
Growth & Impact Report
Moving Forward, Faster, Together
Ecolab is working with our customers and supply partners to build a positive future. Together, we are creating lasting positive impact while driving business growth.