Ecolab Extends Commitment To Responsible Water Management Through Support of International Water Stewardship Standards
ST. PAUL, Minn., June 19, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Ecolab Inc. has expanded its commitment to global water stewardship by working with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a founding partner of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) to support the launch and implementation of the International Water Stewardship Standard, a global framework to promote sustainable freshwater use.
The Standard was announced by AWS in April at the UN CEO Water Mandate multi-stakeholder working conference in Lima, Peru, and builds upon Ecolab's work with WWF to implement the beta AWS Standard in China.
“Ecolab has considerable water management expertise with solutions that help a wide range of industries conserve, treat and reuse water,” said Douglas M. Baker, Jr., Ecolab chairman and chief executive officer. “Through our work with WWF and AWS we are expanding our reach beyond our operations and customers to advance sustainable water management practices around the world.”
In 2013, Ecolab was one of a handful of global partners to pilot the beta Standard to test its feasibility and applicability. Ecolab and WWF field-tested the beta Standard at two sites within the lower Yangtze, one of China’s most critical watersheds, and shared its learnings with AWS to ensure the effectiveness of the AWS Standard.
As part of this continued commitment to water stewardship, Ecolab will implement the AWS Standard within its own operations where water risks are identified, starting with formal adoption of the Standard at its lower Yangtze facilities. In addition, Ecolab aims to collaborate with approximately 10 companies with facilities in the lower Yangtze catchment to support adoption of the Standard in more locations.
Addressing the world’s water challenges requires collaboration by businesses, communities, governments and NGOs. Ecolab, the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services, joins nearly 30 leading organizations from across sectors to advance the efforts of AWS to protect the world’s limited freshwater resources. The AWS Standard provides a critical framework to inform decision making by water users at the watershed level. Global adoption of the AWS Standard will drive more responsible water management and collaboration.
“Ecolab has been a critical ally in advancing the water stewardship landscape,” said Adrian Sym, executive director of AWS. “Their commitment demonstrates a willingness to also walk the talk by implementing the AWS Standard in their own operations. We are thrilled to have Ecolab as a founding partner and excited to work with them to help ensure clean water for people and nature.”
The AWS Standard was developed through a four-year, multi-stakeholder, global water roundtable process that included a diversity of business, public sector and civil society interests from around the world. This free, globally consistent and locally adaptable standard outlines a set of water stewardship criteria and indicators for how water should be stewarded at a site and catchment level in a way that is environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial. The Standard provides water stewards with a six-step continual improvement framework that enables sites to commit to, understand, plan, implement, evaluate and communicate water stewardship actions. To learn more about the AWS Standard, visit www.allianceforwaterstewardship.org.
About Ecolab
A trusted partner at more than one million customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital resources. With 2013 sales of $13 billion and 45,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions and on-site service to promote safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170 countries around the world. For more Ecolab news and information, visit www.ecolab.com.
About World Wildlife Fund
WWF is one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, working in 100 countries for over half a century. With the support of almost five million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment and combat climate change. Visit www.worldwildlife.org to learn more and keep up with the latest conservation news by following @WWFNews on Twitter.
About the Alliance for Water Stewardship
The Alliance for Water Stewardship is a partnership of global leaders in sustainable water management who are dedicated to promoting responsible use of freshwater that is socially, economically and environmentally beneficial. AWS drives collective responses to shared water challenges through its stakeholder-endorsed international Water Stewardship Standard. AWS’s Founding Partners are American Standard, CDP, Centre for Responsible Business, Centro del Agua para America Latina y el Caribe, Ecolab, European Water Partnership, Fundacion Chile, Fundacion FEMSA, Future500, General Mills, The Gold Standard Foundation, Hindustan Unilever Foundation, Inghams, Marks & Spencer, Murray Darling Basin Authority, Nestle, Pacific Institute, Sealed Air,United Nations Environment Programme, the UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate, The Nature Conservancy, The Water Council, Veolia Environnement, Water Environment Foundation, Water Footprint Network, Water Stewardship Australia, Water Witness International, WaterAid and WWF. info@allianceforwaterstewardship.org
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