PepsiCo Inc., one of the world's largest food and beverage businesses, on September 7 published its inaugural water report detailing the company's efforts to conserve and replenish water use in its operations and expand access to clean water across the globe. The release of the report, titled "Water Stewardship: Good for Business. Good for Society." coincides with PepsiCo's participation in Stockholm International Water Institute's (SIWI) World Water Week, an annual meeting that convenes public- and private-sector leaders focused on urgent, global water-related issues. The full water report can be found at http://www.pepsico.com/WaterReport.
"Currently, around one billion people are without access to clean drinking water, making the world water crisis one of the most pressing challenges of our time," said PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi. "As a global food and beverage company, we have an inherent responsibility to be good stewards of this increasingly limited resource, and we are proud of the progress made so far on our journey to minimize our water footprint while expanding access to clean water around the globe."
In April 2010, PepsiCo unveiled a new set of global goals organized around the premise of respecting the human right to water through world-class efficiency in its operations, preserving water resources and enabling access to safe water. Specifically, the company has committed to:
- Improving its water use efficiency by 20 percent per unit of production by 2015;
- Striving for "positive water balance" – giving back more water than is used in operations – in water-distressed areas; and
- Providing access to safe water to three million people in developing countries by the end of 2015.
In addition to detailing how PepsiCo is working toward these ambitious goals, the water report highlights progress the company has made to date, including:
- Achieving a more than 15 percent improvement in water use efficiency as compared to the company's 2006 baseline;
- Achieving "positive water balance" in India - through direct seeding initiatives, the company replenished nearly six billion liters of water across India, exceeding the total intake of approximately five billion liters of water by its manufacturing facilities; and
- Providing access to clean water to one million people by 2011, as a result of the more than $15 million pledged by PepsiCo and the PepsiCo Foundation since 2005 to safe water and sanitation initiatives in developing countries.
