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Highlights and challenges

Actions we’ve taken

  • We’ve continued our work to address water challenges with partners that include the 2030 Water Resources Group, the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate, the Water Footprint Network and the Alliance for Water Stewardship.
  • We’ve worked with suppliers to promote good water management through the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative at Nestlé (SAIN).
  • We’ve also incorporated guidelines on water into our Responsible Sourcing Guidelines.
  • We’ve conducted 16 additional Water Resource Reviews at our factories.
  • We’ve contributed to helping communities around the world address water issues following natural disasters.

Challenges we’ve faced

  • Managing sustainable growth while water is increasingly scarce.
  • Improving the way we involve stakeholders in Water Resource Reviews.
  • Improving the consistency in the way water impacts are measured by helping to develop a new standard, ISO 14046: Water Footprint Principles, Requirements and Guidelines, which should be completed by 2014.

Our performance

  • We’ve reduced water withdrawals by 53% per tonne of product since 2002.
  • We’ve reduced water discharges by 64% per tonne of product since 2002.
  • We’ve recycled 6.9 million cubic metres of water this year.
  • We have run over 489 water-saving projects in our factories saving 6.5 million m3.
  • We’ve also launched 184 clean drinking water projects in the South Asian region, helping to improving access and sanitation for more than 100,000 students in village schools across several countries.

External recognition

  • We achieved the highest score of any food producer in the water-related risk section of the 2012 SAM–DJSI Indexes among food producers.
  • We received an award from the ESSEC business school in France recognising our initiative to assist local farmers in greening their agricultural practices in the Vosges water basin.