By Sue Adkins, International Director, Business in the Community
PepsiCo works with partners to provide under-served communities with access to clean, safe water, and advocates for new approaches to global water challenges.
Social impacts
- PepsiCo’s partnerships provided safe water access to more than 5.6 million people in developing communities worldwide.
- The partnerships produced innovative, replicable and sustainable models for safe water access and sanitation and an improved management of water resources.
- These initiatives had a multiplier effect, improving the health, wealth and wellbeing of the communities in which it has delivered safe water access.
Business impacts
- PepsiCo’s global water partnerships, and its collaboration with NGOs, development agencies and communities, enhanced the company’s reputation as a sustainable business and trusted partner.
- The water programmes helped advance its business vision for Performance with Purpose – to deliver top-tier financial performance while creating sustainable value for all stakeholders.
- Investing in sustainable water management and safe water access programmes helped PepsiCo to better understand water challenges in its supply chain and to improve water efficiency.
PepsiCo takes a comprehensive approach to water stewardship, from reducing the impact of its operations to increasing safe water availability in developing countries.
It set and achieved water goals that included improving operational efficiency by 20 percent. It also collaborated with NGOs, development agencies and a global network of partners to provide safe water access to six million people by the end of 2015.
The PepsiCo Foundation has established partnerships to test new approaches to improving water access and developing scalable programmes. These initiatives include water conservation, distribution, purification and sanitation for under-served communities in China, India, Mali, Brazil, Colombia and other Latin American countries.
The Foundation also works on long-term planning and policy, and is an advocate for the sustainable management of water resources. What PepsiCo’s Chairman and CEO said:
“The complex issue of sustainable water management requires the diversity of thought and capabilities that only collaboration among business, government and international agencies can bring. As a global food and beverage company, PepsiCo has an imperative to lead on the issue of water efficiency, and we have committed resources and entered into public-private partnerships that enable responsible water use. The solutions we develop together are not about philanthropy; they are about long-term survival and prosperity – of people, of business, of governments and of society.” – Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo