Water risk assessment for a global food ingredients company

A global agri-business company and supplier of food ingredients needed to understand its water-related risks to define its corporate water goals and targets. Here’s how our comprehensive water risk assessment helped the company gain insights into its water risks and set initial goals and targets.

The challenge: Understanding water risks

Spanning multiple commodities, over 500 sites, across five regions, the company had a lot to consider. Although water wasn’t the only topic as part of its sustainability ambitions, it was key to understand how to prioritise action on water and where.

The company expected that the results could be used to define a roadmap for action, incorporating ambitious targets and the principles of good water stewardship.

The solution: Assessing risks and defining goals and targets

The first step was to understand which water-related risks impact the company, and in which geographies and parts of the business. So, we began by analysing the water performance data of the sites, taking into account the type of facility, commodity being produced or processed, and current water use.

This was then complemented with a comprehensive water-risk assessment using data from tools such as the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Water Risk Filter and the World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct.

A selection of the 10 most relevant indicators across five aspects of water stewardship was made:

Water quantity, including drought and flooding
Water quality for intake and discharge
Water governance and regulations
Ecosystems, including local dependencies
Access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)

The water risk values were then combined with the site data to identify the most prevalent water risks.

Building upon the approach of setting freshwater targets as defined by the Science Based Targets Network, we then defined initial goals and targets on water for 2030 and 2050.

A diverse product portfolio brings diverse water risks. So we assessed the company’s operations in detail – from planting to processing – to help it understand water risks and which steps to take.

Basja JantowskiGlobal Lead, Water Strategy for Industry

The result: A corporate strategy with better water stewardship at heart

The water risk assessment has delivered valuable insights into the ingredients company’s operations, helping the company to prioritise actions to improve water performance and reduce risks.

The goals and targets for water helped the company define its water strategy and prepare for sustainability reporting and disclosure requirements.