2Sustain

China’s colossal economic growth has come with enormous costs to the environment. China’s water resources have been particularly hard hit, and these days, the Yangtze tops the World Wildlife Fund’s list of the ten most-threatened rivers in the world.

BSR recently took an in-depth look at these issues, focusing specifically on water challenges and risks now inherent in the global electronics supply chain.

For this research, 10 Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) members submitted supplier names to BSR for matching against a publicly available database containing information on corporate environmental violations. After analyzing the 640 suppliers and matching them against the database, BSR found that: (more…)

Water concerns are becoming more and more globally integrated and complex, and many corporations are now seeking out cooperative partnerships to help mitigate the increasing threat of water risks.

Here’s an example: Just last week, The Coca-Cola Company and The Nature Conservancy announced the release of a water footprint report, entitled Product Water Footprint Assessments: Practical Application in Corporate Water Stewardship. Released in conjunction with World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, this report details three pilot studies that were conducted on Coca-Cola products and ingredients.

Water footprint assessments like this one provide valuable insights into water use throughout the supply chain, including both direct and indirect water use and the impacts of use on local watersheds and communities. Those insights can then open new opportunities for companies to enhance their water stewardship, while mitigating the risks associated with water scarcity.

For instance, in this particular study, Coca-Cola and the Conservancy found that the largest portion of the product water footprints assessed in the pilot studies comes from the field –not the factory.

“We see significant opportunity to engage more directly with our agricultural suppliers to advance sustainable water use for the cultivation of ingredients in our supply chain,” Denise Knight, Water and Sustainable Agriculture Director, The Coca-Cola Company, said in a press release. “Our initial efforts will focus on the sustainable sourcing of sugarcane, oranges and corn.”

Water footprints typically identify three types of water: (more…)

PepsiCo has released its 2009 Corporate Citizenship Report, and it contains dozens of ambitious global goals –47, in all –that will guide the company over the coming decade. These global goals focus on nutrition, environmental sustainability, and workplace practices and include specific, industry-leading commitments, such as reducing sugar, sodium and fat across the company’s food and beverage portfolio while increasing whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

In addition, the report, “Performance with Purpose: Investing in Sustainable Growth,” details PepsiCo’s environmental performance in 2009. For example, last year PepsiCo: (more…)

Are companies tuning into water conservation –what eco-experts believe could become the most critical green initiative of them all?

Yes…and no.

IBM recently asked more than 100 public and private sector executives about their companies’ water challenges, and even though about 77 percent of those surveyed felt that water management was extremely critical to their business, more than half (51 percent ) said they lacked formal guidelines for implementing it. An additional 63 percent of executives said they lacked access to integrated water management systems.

So, what can your company do to boost water conservation awareness and action? (more…)

Will your company be able to operate successfully in a water-constrained world? Do you know your water footprint?

Those are questions you need to be thinking about because according to the United Nations, by 2030 almost half of the world population will live in areas facing water stress or water scarcity.  Already, less than 1% of the world’s water is easily accessible fresh water, and in the future, this valuable limited resource will be facing even more pressure from: (more…)