The Courtauld Commitment Water Ambition

Collective action on water stress

The Courtauld Commitment Water Ambition is a practical response to the growing problem of water stress. With WWF, the Rivers Trust and other leading water experts we’ve created a collaborative programme that works on a localised level, dealing directly at source with issues specific within each catchment area.

The Water Ambition aims to achieve the following by 2025:

Business signatories are monitoring water use in their own operations and have improved efficiency.
Business signatories are participating in collective action to improve the quality and availability of water in key sourcing areas.

The issues

What actions can businesses take?

To help businesses take the right steps, we have produced a checklist which outlines the actions to take, as well as links to further sources of guidance and support tools. Download the checklist here.

WWF have defined a framework to guide businesses towards being a good water steward and reducing exposure to water risks.

Collective action projects

At its core, the Water Ambition includes a programme of collective action projects that aim to improve the quality and availability of water in key sourcing areas for the UK’s food and drink.

Find out more

Water Ambition progress

Working together to protect critical water resources' - the Water Ambition progress report.

Find out more

A call for collaboration on a common challenge

'The challenges facing us on water do not discriminate between companies, countries or crops. Collaborating with partners via the Courtauld Commitment 2025 ensures that we maximise our impact and do not duplicate effort. We support the call for others to join in collective action in key sourcing areas and look forward to working together to develop a future we all want to see.'

_{Thomas Farrell, UK Environmental Manager, ABP, Chris Brown, Senior Director Sustainability and Sourcing, ASDA Liz Lowe, GB Sustainability Manager, Coca-Cola Great Britain, Sarah Wakefield, Sustainable Sourcing and Fairtrade Manager, Co-op}, _{Ashley Gilman, Agriculture Manager, Cranswick, Kate O’Driscoll, Head of Sustainability, Kepak Group, Emmanuelle Hopkinson, Sustainability Project Manager, M&S}, _{Andy Griffiths, Head of Value Chain Sustainability, Nestle, Lee Haughton, Group Environmental Manager, Premier Foods, Judith Batchelar, Director of Sainsbury’s Brand, Sainsbury’s, Matt Bardell, Group Sustainability Manager, Saputo Dairy UK, Laurence Webb, Responsible Sourcing Manager, Tesco, Matt Dight, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, Tulip}, _{Andy Mitchell, Senior Technical Manager, Worldwide Fruit}

Leading businesses are seed funding these collaborations, and working with their suppliers to raise awareness, identify impacts and implement interventions. Many other businesses are also committed to taking action.

Read our latest progress report to find out more.

Get involved

For more information and details on how to get involved, contact Karen Fisher at WRAP.