Global Water Management Program

Steps Tool

Plant-level risk and opportunity analysis

Recognizing the water risk to which we are exposed, each year we conduct a water risk analysis with Aqueduct, a digital tool from the World Resources Institute (WRI), which provides information to measure water-related risks at each of our locations. As a result, we were able to identify operations located in water-stressed areas and their expected future behavior, as well as flooding, and drought risks, among others. We complemented this analysis with an internal benchmarking exercise to identify the most efficient plants and share best practices. We highlight that our operations in Mexico have the highest levels of water efficiency in our portfolio, given the greater water risk in the region.

Internal benchmark

We identified our best-performing operations on water management and replicated these practices across the rest of our plants to:

Achieve more ambitious water consumption reduction targets

Invest in and develop new transformational technologies

Define parameters for growth plans

In 2022, the central Sustainability team worked with nine of our sites with the most critical water use to structure an optimization roadmap and identify new technologies to reduce water intensity.

Investment in new technologies and processes

We invested in water treatment systems and new technologies to improve the use and reuse of water, as well as to advance towards our goal of reducing water consumption per ton of food produced.

The Environmental Community managed projects related to water stewardship. For example, the plants with the highest water consumption requirements in Mexico have an additional water treatment system that allows us to increase water recovery at the end of the production cycle and use it in secondary processes, including its use in condensers, and watering green areas. At the Noreste plant in Mexico, we replaced the use of fresh water with treated wastewater in 2 of the 5 condensers, thus avoiding the use of up to 90 m3 of fresh water per day. In addition, valves were changed to prevent water leaks. This was especially relevant given the water stress conditions experienced in the operation in Mexico during 2022.

Other actions during the year included

France

Installed a new cooling system, achieving a 50% reduction in water consumption at the Aoste plant.

Mexico Costa Rica

Carried out a major preventive maintenance program at the water treatment plants.

We provide knowledge to farmers from our Dairy Development Program on fertigation equipment installation and management to improve the efficiency of pasture irrigation, as well as on the installation of rainwater harvesting systems.

Water governance

Committed to the responsible use of water, we defined our Water Management Policy, which includes guidelines for risk management, continuous improvement in the use and reuse of the resource, as well as engagement with our stakeholders.

We periodically include water-related developments, risks, and opportunities on the Executive Committee’s agenda to strengthen water management practices in our operations.

Water Policy: here

The future of our water management strategy

Our future water management strategy will continue to be driven by three pillars:

Reducing our water footprint

Capture water from alternative sources

Create a positive impact on society and the environment

CDP AFFIRMS OUR WATER SECURITY RATING AT B FOR 2022.

2022 Achievements

We achieved a 14% reduction in water consumption per ton of food produced, compared to the previous year.

The Foodservice business in Mexico increased its production without increasing its water consumption, hence improving water efficiency.

We deployed the One-Shot initiative for washing and hygiene services on production lines in Europe, reducing water consumption and upholding high safety standards.

We included a talk by Waterplan® in the 2022 Sustainability Forum to raise awareness among our employees.