Business collaboration on water could have massive multiplier effect

A woman collects water from a well at El Kolta village, near Maradi, south-eastern Niger. Photograph: Issouf Sanogo/AFP/Getty Images

Many companies are setting innovative targets around Sustainable Development Goal 6, water and sanitation for all. Bhaskar Chakravorti argues that further collaboration on this goal will raise the entire SGD platform

The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) attempt a “platform” solution to bring together multiple stakeholders to improve the condition of people and the planet. But these SDGs are a handful. With business as a key stakeholder, we must remember that managers can generally attend to only a few things. With 17 goals and 169 targets, the SDGs are far from being manager-friendly. For most executives we spoke with as part of our Inclusion Inc. research initiative, while the holistic objectives seemed worthwhile, the SDGs were deemed to be a bit too much to be helpful for managers with limited time. The SDGs needed a “killer app” - a goal widely shared across industries to engage companies, mobilise action and win over more adherents to the platform.

It turns out that there is indeed a killer app: SDG 6. It focuses companies on a single shared problem of access to water, without watering down the SDGs.

Water is frequently spoken of as the “new oil”. It is essential to life and is in short supply. One in 10 people, a third of all schools in the world and a third of all healthcare facilities in the developing world lack access to safe water, according to Water.org. Water scarcity creates devastating inequalities: fetching water falls primarily on women and children, amounting to 125m hours spent and $24bn (£18.5bn) lost in economic benefits. The World Health Organization’s survival consumption levels are 20 liters a day, while in the US, a toilet consumes 50 liters of water a day (pdf). Every 90 seconds a child dies from water related diseases, which affect 1.5 billion people each year. Need I go on?

The bad news is that the problem is worsening. 21 of the world’s 37 largest aquifers have passed their sustainability tipping points, according to a recent NASA study. The crisis deepens in China, India and large parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and even in Brazil, despite its massive water resources.

As for the “new oil” as a business opportunity, it’s estimated that every $1 (77p) invested in water and sanitation provides a $4 (£3) economic return and universal access to safe water and sanitation would result in $32bn (£24.7bn) in economic benefits annually.

The positive news is that improving access to clean water can be pursued successfully as a global collaborative. This time, businesses can play an essential part. Improving access to clean water goes way beyond SDG 6. It has a profound impact on every other SDG, creating a multiplier effect across the sustainable development agenda.

An interesting finding from our research is how widespread the interest is in sustainable water, regardless of industry. We found companies innovating in reducing and replenishing water use and ensuring water access throughout the value chain, demonstrating quantifiable success and taking the lessons elsewhere. Consider some inspiring illustrations.

In the supply chain

Onions are water-intensive crops, an issue of significant concern in water-scarce regions. Olam’s onion breeding program reduces the amount of water needed to produce dehydrated onion products by increasing the solid content in onions. According to CEO Sunny Verghese, “10 years ago in California, the solid content in onions was 9%. Now, over the 10-year period, we have bred a proprietary seed that has allowed us to take the solid content from 9% to now 26%.” The program has saved 65m cubic meters of water and 7,500 hectares of land and is being applied to garlic and chilies as well.

In production

Water is vital to brewers such as SABMiller and water scarcity remains a serious issue in Africa, one of its most critical markets. A key imperative of its Prosper initiative focuses on “securing shared water resources” for production facilities and local communities. SABMiller is using conservation efforts to cut water used to produce beer from 3 liters per liter bottle to 1.8 liters per liter bottle, by 2020. Over 2008-2014, the company improved its brewery water efficiency by 25% and applied the lessons to create a global network of partnerships with civil society organisations, governments, and companies.

In retail

In 2008, Starbucks set a goal to reduce water consumption by 25% in company-operated stores by 2015. Since then it has identified numerous opportunities to use water more wisely and reduced water use by 26.5% through retrofits to plumbing, water systems and enhancements to new store design.

In consumer use

Unilever’s commitment is to halve the water associated with the consumer use of its products by 2020 by applying multiple approaches. For example, in Brazil, Unilever has responded to water shortages with shampoos, laundry detergents, and hand soap that require minimal water. Brands such as Comfort One Rinse fabric conditioner and Sunsilk leave-on conditioners are designed to use less water. Unilever has also teamed up with the Delta Faucet Company to launch a water efficient showerhead, Delta Hydrafall™, to reduce water use.

Across the product lifecycle

Levi Strauss & Company’s (LS&Co.) Water<Less finishing technique starts with a lifecycle assessment of its core products, which found that its jeans use 3,781 liters of water in their full cycle, from cotton growing through end-of-life disposal by the consumer. Such a comprehensive understanding of water use helps it to urge customers to wash jeans less frequently. The Water<Less process cuts water usage in the garment finishing process by up to 96%. The company estimates that the initiative has saved 190m liters of water and $1.6m in cost of goods sold in 2014 alone. LS&Co. is expanding Water<Less techniques to additional product lines and vendor partners.

In communities

Diageo sponsors the Water of Life programme, which provides clean drinking water to water-stressed communities where its production facilities are located. The programme is the primary and most reliable source of water for 79% of beneficiary households and reduces the time women spend each day gathering water by 33%. These initiatives complement its goals of 50% improvement in water use efficiency and returning 100% of wastewater from operations to the environment safely, reforestation, wetland recovery, and improved farming techniques and equipping suppliers with tools to protect water resources.

Replenishment innovations

Coca-Cola’s water neutrality program seeks to return an amount of water equivalent to what is used in its beverages and production. By 2015, it had balanced 115% (191.9bn liters) of the water used in its global sales volume using different methods. Through technology, it reduced water use in 1,004 factories in 207 countries. Previously, Coca-Cola production facilities rinsed bottles with water before they were filled with a beverage. Now the bottles are rinsed with air. The second method was to recycle water used during production back into the local municipal water systems. Additionally, Coca-Cola implemented thousands of water replenishment projects in water- stressed region of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The combination of these projects allowed Coca-Cola to declare water neutrality five years before its 2020 target.

Technological innovations

Many technology companies have brought their innovative capabilities to bear on the question of water-use efficiency. EMC designed more efficient products that have cut the amount of water needed for cooling and for generating electricity. IBM’s Intelligent Water software delivers insights from data to help utilities manage water pressure, detect leaks, reduce water consumption, mitigate sewer overflow, and better manage water infrastructure, assets and operations. Its Africa lab is using big data and Internet of Things technologies to help smallholder farmers better manage the water resources needed to irrigate and grow crops, while enhancing water security through digital maps of underground water resources. Simultaneously, Microsoft has worked with Ecolab, a global provider of water, hygiene and energy technologies and services, to use cloud computing, and cutting-edge technologies to tackle water scarcity.

Social innovations

Gap’s Women + Water initiative is a recognition of the reality that 80% of those who make their clothes are women, who also carry a disproportionate burden of the community’s water challenges. The objective is to ensure access to safe water and reduce the water impact of clothes production. Gap collaborates with fabric mills to improve their practices, building water filtration plants to provide people with access to clean water, educating the women who make their clothes on safe water handling practices, and investing in Better Cotton.

This cross-section of innovations in sustainable water combined with the centrality of water to the SDGs suggests that coordination of water-related efforts alone could have a massive multiplier effect. Imagine the possibilities of IBM collaborating with Coca-Cola and LS&Co., bringing their respective techniques together. Imagine other companies replicating the ideas outlined here in their own contexts. My recommendation would be for business collaboratives to double down on this SDG. It will help raise the entire platform.

Bhaskar Chakravorti is senior associate dean of international business and finance at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He is also the founding executive director of Fletcher’s Institute for Business in the Global Context and author of The Slow Pace of Fast Change. The research reported here was supported by Citi Foundation.

Content on this page is provided by Business Call to Action, and originally appeared on the The Guardian Business and the Sustainable Development Goals Hub