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 Courtauld Commitment 2030
The Courtauld Commitment is WRAP's flagship voluntary agreement for food and drink. The new Courtauld Commitment 2030 has the following target for water:
As well as businesses continuing to increase water use efficiency in their own operations, our combined objective is that, by 2030, the UK food & drink industry will have helped to achieve sustainable water management to improve the quality and availability of water at catchment scale in the top 20 most important product & ingredient sourcing areas in the UK and overseas.
With an overall target by 2030 that: 50% of fresh food is sourced from areas with sustainable water management.
The issues
What actions can businesses take?
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.
Water Ambition progress
Working together to protect critical water resources' - the Water Ambition progress report.
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, Paul Dobson, Director of Health, Safety and Environment, 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.