PepsiCo’s announcement comes in the wake of the company’s achieving its goal of partnering to provide access to safe water to three million people in developing countries by the end of 2015.
PepsiCo was pursuing the Performance with Purpose strategy to deliver sustained financial performance by providing a wide range of foods and beverages from treats to healthy eats; finding innovative ways to minimize PepsiCo’s impact on the environment and lower the company’s costs through energy and water conservation, as well as reduced packaging; providing a safe and inclusive workplace for employees globally; and respecting, supporting and investing in the local communities in which PepsiCo operates.
Through the PepsiCo Foundation, PepsiCo has identified projects and partners to provide access to safe water to millions of people through initiatives that include water conservation, distribution, purification and hygiene for underserved communities in China, India, Mali, Brazil, Colombia, and other Latin American countries.
The announcement was made in conjunction with the Columbia University Earth Institute at their State of the Planet Conference, which is being sponsored by the PepsiCo Foundation. The Earth Institute and the PepsiCo Foundation have had a successful working relationship on water-related projects since the Foundation’s $6 million grant in 2008 helped found the Columbia Water Center.
From Gujarat, India to Ceara, Brazil the Columbia Water Center is using the latest science and technology to create new policies to conserve groundwater for agriculture; cope with extreme floods; promote water and energy savings; develop hydroclimatic data; create financial instruments to mitigate risk; and manage urban and rural water systems, the company said.
PepsiCo forms partnerships with organizations around the world to spur community development and address environmental issues. In addition to the Columbia Water Center, PepsiCo also works closely on water-related programs with the China Women’s Development Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Safe Water Network, and Water.org.
PepsiCo is also engaged in installing village water and irrigation systems, establishing water health centers, constructing rainwater harvesting cisterns, improving sanitation programs and recharging aquifers.
The company also focuses on improving water use efficiency in PepsiCo’s operations by more than 20 percent per unit of production, from a 2006 baseline, achieving its water goal a full four years ahead of schedule.
PepsiCo conserves nearly 16 billion liters of water in the company’s operations in 2011, from a 2006 baseline, through the application of water-saving equipment and technologies, creative recycling and re-use, and by deploying a water management system throughout its manufacturing facilities.
Additional commitments include reducing the company’s water and energy-related costs by more than $45 million in 2011, compared to 2006; and innovating a variety of agricultural practices and technologies around the world that are designed to reduce water use in farming through new irrigation techniques, and tools that help farmers deliver fertilizer and water to their crops at the most efficient time.