Nestlé pledges to set tougher water KPIs

Nestlé has revisited its 2006 water commitments in a bid to create tighter performance indicators as it looks to continue water efficiency improvements made in 2011.


As part of its ‘Global Creating Shared Value Report’, released yesterday (April 12), progress in water, rural development, environmental sustainability and compliance are highlighted, with the main challenges in these key areas being used to form its latest strategy.

Last year, Nestlé reduced its water usage by 28% in its factories, against a 2001 baseline and a further 36% reduction in additional water usage, against a 2005 baseline. It aims to increase this by a further 10% by 2015.

To support its 2015 target – and future targets, Nestlé is working to hone its latest water performance indicators which it says will “underpin our water commitments and enable systematic measurement of performance”.

A major section of the report is dedicated to water – with Nestlé chairman and CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe warning that “at the current rate, the overuse of freshwater will severely slow economic development”.

As a result, it has updated its 2006 water commitments to take into account increasing shortages, both locally and globally, as it looks to make its operations more sustainable and reduce water consumption and follows on from an earlier announcement last month.

How it intends meet these targets is yet to be finalised, however Nestlé has said it is installing key performance indicators (KPIs) which measure water efficiency across its operations and water resource management more effectively.

It also pledges to promote public polices which place value on water and raise awareness of water conservation and engage more with its supply chain and stakeholders.

Nestlé states: “We also recognise the need, and the challenge, to track performance in terms of impacts at the watershed level because this is the ultimate measure of progress towards meeting today’s global water challenges.”

Carys Matthews

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