ST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 16, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 3M (NYSE: MMM) announced it is joining the Water
Resilience Coalition (WRC) today, taking one more step forward
in the company's ongoing commitment to help the nearly two billion
people worldwide living in water-stressed and water-scarce
communities.
"3M is proactively applying our
science and innovation to improve the water supply used in our
operations and the communities we serve," said Mike Roman, 3M
CEO. "We are committed to sharing our expertise on global water
solutions, and our participation in the WRC will expand and amplify
our efforts."
By joining the WRC leadership committee and endorsing the United
Nations Global Compact's CEO Water Mandate, 3M will be working to preserve the world's
freshwater resources and achieve a net positive water impact. It
will also be better positioned to advance its ongoing work to
improve the environment and build a brighter future around the
world.
"3M's expertise in science and creative solutions finds a
significant space of opportunity in the CEO Water Mandate," said
Jason Morrison, President of the
Pacific Institute and Head of the CEO Water Mandate. "Additionally,
by being a part of the leadership committee of the Water Resilience
Coalition they also join a leading platform on water for businesses
that are elevating their ambition and accelerating results through
collective action on water."
3M's thoughtful approach to science and innovation has driven
success for more than 100 years, and it will apply this same
methodology to its collaborative work with fellow members.
Supporting communities with water challenges
In 2020, 3M's annual evaluation identified 16 facilities in
extremely high water-stressed/scarce global locations, including
locations in France, India, Mexico, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, and the
United States. After the assessment, work began to
understand current baselines and onboarding for those new sites,
continuing into the first half of 2021. For example, the company
began working with the Juarez
(Mexico) City Water Department in 2016 to receive treated
wastewater for on-site services. In 2017, 80% of total water
consumed in three out of five buildings was treated or recycled
water and in 2020, the site transitioned the remaining two
buildings. It expects to save 10 million liters (2.6 million
gallons) of water.
Since 2015, 3M has had a goal to
engage 100% of water-stressed/scarce communities where it
manufactures on community-wide approaches to water management. Each
3M site located in a water-stressed
area is required to understand its water use, and associated
business risks and impacts, and must work with local water
resources to understand potential impacts on the surrounding area.
Those sites are also asked to do water conservation planning,
outlining current and future water conservation efforts.
Reducing water use in manufacturing operations
3M is also taking steps to reduce
water use and improve water quality through installation of
technologies at key manufacturing sites worldwide. For example,
3M Decatur in Alabama has installed a non-contact cooling
water system that connects the plant's incoming water
infrastructure to local utilities. This reduces the amount of water
the plant uses from the Tennessee River by more than 95% and
deepens the facility's connection with the community where its
people live and work.
The work in Decatur will
advance 3M's February 2021 commitment
to reduce its water use 25% by 2030, with interim goals of 20% by
2025 and 10% by 2022—accelerating a prior goal to achieve a 10%
reduction by 2025 (indexed to sales). To help identify solutions
and potential barriers for water reduction, 3M employees can record and track observations
within a global pollution prevention system that is accessible by
engineers, developers, and managers. This broad visibility provides
a deeper understanding of water use and facilitates collaboration
on solutions from across the company.
As a result of ongoing water reduction efforts, 3M's total
consumption decreased 39.8% between 2005 and 2020 (indexed to
sales).
Improving the quality of water returned to the
environment
3M plans to invest $1 billion over the next 20 years to achieve its
environmental goals, including a commitment to install
state-of-the-art water purification technology at its largest
water-using facilities by the end of 2023 and be fully operational
by the end of 2024. These funds build on 3M's allocation of
approximately $55 million for capital
projects for environmental purposes in 2020, which include waste
reduction and pollution control programs, such as water usage
reduction and water quality improvement equipment, scrubbers,
containment structures, solvent recovery units, and thermal
oxidizers.
Beyond investing in remediation, installation of appropriate
treatment technologies, and testing water sources, 3M is committed to applying our scientific and
innovative approach to advancing technologies in this field. The
company will continue to collaborate with communities who have
questions about the quality of their water and work to determine
whether 3M is able to provide
solutions.
For more information on 3M's efforts to improve the environment,
visit 3M.com/sustainability.
About Water Resilience Coalition
The Water Resilience
Coalition brings together some of the biggest companies in the
world to help preserve the world's freshwater resources. Led by the
CEO Water Mandate, an initiative of the UN Global Compact,
Coalition members commit to having a positive impact in water
stressed basins, to develop and implement resilient practices
across their industry, and to provide leadership and advocacy in
the field of water resilience. Water Resilience Coalition
(ceowatermandate.org/resilience)
About United Nations Global Compact
As a special
initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global
Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations
and strategies with Ten Principles in the areas of human rights,
labour, environment and anti-corruption. Our ambition is to
accelerate and scale the global collective impact of business by
upholding the Ten Principles and delivering the Sustainable
Development Goals through accountable companies and ecosystems that
enable change. With more than 12,000 companies and 3,000
non-business signatories based in over 160 countries, and 69 Local
Networks, the UN Global Compact is the world's largest corporate
sustainability initiative — one Global Compact uniting business for
a better world.
For more information, follow @globalcompact on social
media and visit our website at unglobalcompact.org.
About 3M
At 3M
(NYSE: MMM), we apply science in collaborative ways to improve
lives daily as our employees connect with customers all around the
world. Learn more about 3M's creative solutions to global
challenges at www.3M.com or on Twitter @3M or @3MNews.
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