MillerCoors and Sungevity Join Ceres’ Connect the Drops Water Campaign in California
May 12, 2015 /3BL Media/ - Two major businesses - the MillerCoors Brewing Co., and Oakland-based solar company Sungevity - announced today that they have joined Connect the Drops, a business-led campaign organized by Ceres urging bold measures and shared solutions to build a sustainable water future in drought-stricken California.
The new company supporters join a diverse group of other California businesses who launched Connect the Drops in March, including The Coca-Cola Co., Driscoll's, Gap Inc., General Mills, KB Home, Levi Strauss & Co. and Symantec. The announcement comes one day before the Ceres annual conference, Innovate, Collaborate, Accelerate, being held tomorrow and Thursday May 13-14 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco.
“Adding MillerCoors and Sungevity to Connect the Drops brings much needed momentum to the growing chorus of businesses seeking strong policy solutions in Sacramento to the state's significant water challenges," said Kirsten James, senior manager at Ceres, who is directing the campaign. "In addition to their unique business perspectives, these companies are 'walking the talk' with diverse strategies to lower their own water use.”
All of MillerCoors' eight major breweries in the United States are exceeding industry averages on water and energy efficiency - among those, its 227-acre brewery in southern California. The Irwindale facility uses just over three barrels of water for every one of the six millions barrels of beer it produces every year. The industry average in California is roughly six to eight barrels of water for every one barrel of beer produced. The company also installed 10,000 solar panels on the property earlier this year.
"Water is a key ingredient in beer, and MillerCoors cares deeply about water conservation in all aspects of the beer-making process, whether it’s on the farm or in the brewery,” said Kim Marotta, MillerCoors’ director of sustainability. “As a user of this resource, MillerCoors works to manage water usage responsibly and proactively to protect its quality and availability. We’re excited to join Connect the Drops to protect this precious resource.”
Sungevity is a global solar energy provider focused on making it easy and affordable for homeowners to benefit from solar power. Electricity generated by solar power requires a small amount of water compared to other electricity-generating sources. As part of joining Connect the Drops, the company is launching a new water stewardship program focused on consumer and employee awareness about the water saving potential of solar power and is also exploring ways to reduce its water footprint in both the manufacturing process and within its facilities.
"It’s critical that businesses take a leading role in finding solutions to California’s sustainable water future,” said Danny Kennedy, co-founder of Sungevity. "Compared to any other power-producing technology, photovoltaics - as the solar cells are known - use the least amount of water. As such, we see our core business as supporting water-smart economic development and we're constantly looking for other ways to conserve water throughout our company and within the services we provide."
Due to a devastating drought and growing climate change impacts, water scarcity is widely believed to be the “new normal” for California’s rich and diverse economy.
The campaign’s goal is to elevate business voices and perspectives on the need to “connect the drops” between sustainable water supplies and the economic health of California’s economy. Companies signing on to the effort agree to 1) make and implement business commitments to support the state’s action plan for water conservation, and 2) engage with policymakers, employees, customers and their peers on improving water management and enhancing water efficiency.
Learn more at www.ceres.org/connectthedrops.
About Ceres:
Ceres is a nonprofit organization mobilizing business and investor leadership on climate change, water scarcity and other sustainability challenges. Ceres directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), a network of institutional investors with collective assets totaling more than $13 trillion. Ceres also directs Business for Innovative Climate & Energy Policy (BICEP), an advocacy coalition of dozens of companies committed to working with policymakers to pass meaningful energy and climate legislation. For more information, visit www.ceres.org or follow on Twitter @CeresNews or @ValueEveryDrop.
