Product Water Footprinting Pilot Seeks Business Participants

A product water footprinting program by the Carbon Trust is seeking businesses to pilot the new certification and labeling scheme.

The scheme will help businesses to demonstrate their water management leadership by certifying the life cycle water use of their products to an international standard, the Carbon Trust says. The businesses will be able to communicate this certification by using the Carbon Trust’s Water Footprint label.

Water footprinting can help businesses to better understand the life cycle sustainability impacts of their products, uncovering hotspots such as pollution, or competing demands in areas of water stress and scarcity. This can be used to identify areas to materially improve the water efficiency and sustainability of products, as well as to pre-empt regulatory or supply chain risks.

Greater water efficiency can also result in cost savings, particularly where energy is required to cool, heat or pump that water.

The UN projects that global water demand will grow by 55 percent by 2050.

The Carbon Trust says businesses will be key to solving water challenges. Agriculture accounts for more than 70 percent of total global freshwater use. And the manufacturing industry is expected to see the most significant growth in water demand, which is projected to increase by 400 percent between 2000 and 2050.

Businesses interested in more information, or becoming a pathfinder for the Carbon Trust product water footprint certification and labeling scheme can contact Kirsty McKell at [email protected], or call +44(0) 207 170 7000.

In 2013 the Carbon Trust launched its water reduction standard. Coca-Cola Enterprises, Sainsbury’s, Sunlight and Branston were the first four organizations to achieve the standard.