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In the World
We’re Helping Our Customers Do More for People and the Planet
Water
Help customers save 300 billion gallons [1.1 billion m³] of water each year, equivalent to the annual drinking water needs of 1 billion people.
Food
Help customers provide enough high quality and safe food to feed 2 billion people for an entire year and prevent 11 million foodborne illnesses.
Health
Help clean 90 billion hands and provide safe medical care for 116 million people each year, reducing more than 1.7 million infections.
Climate
Help customers avoid the generation of 6 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually, preventing nearly 10 million pollution-related illnesses.
Measuring Our Impact
In Our Operations...
Alongside the impact we make with our customers, we know we can make a difference through our own operations. We are making steady, measurable progress toward our 2030 goals around water, climate, diversity, equity and inclusion, and safety.
Achieving a Positive Water Impact
- Reduce water impact by 40% per unit production across our enterprise, from our 2018 base year
- Restore greater than 50% of our absolute water withdrawal volume at high-risk sites
- Achieve Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard certification for sites located within high-risk watersheds
We reduced overall water impact intensity by 18%, from our 2018 base year, by:
- Implementing Ecolab solutions such as 3D TRASAR™ and Water Flow Intelligence and utilizing digital tools like the Smart Water Navigator, to support smart water management practices
- Delivering on projects that resulted in approximately 153 million gallons (~580,000 cubic meters) of water savings
We restored water in our communities, reducing and replenishing 34% of our absolute water withdrawal at high-risk sites by:
- Working with partners within the local water basins in which we operate to understand shared water challenges and addressing them with nature-based solutions
- Completing water efficiency and reuse projects that reduce our dependency on community water supplies
We have achieved Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) certification at 10 of our facilities.
Tackling Carbon Emissions
Ecolab joined the UN Global Compact’s Business Ambition for 1.5˚C, committing to reduce our absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net-zero across our value chain by 2050. We have also committed to achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030 through the RE100 initiative, a global initiative bringing together the world’s most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable energy, and have set a science-based target (SBT) addressing our Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, which was approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
To help meet our goals, we use a combination of tactics supported by science-based strategies. In 2023, we:
- Reduced absolute Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 25%, from our 2018 base year, by focusing on process improvement projects that reduced total energy consumption by almost 5.7 billion BTUs
- Sourced 64% of our total electricity from renewable sources
- Accelerated our vehicle fleet electrification projects, particularly in North America through a collaboration with Ford Pro™ and in Europe through having EVs as part of our standard car selector process
Supporting a Diverse and Inclusive Workforce
- Maintaining Ecolab’s pay equity in the U.S. and expanding globally
- Increasing management level gender diversity to 35%, with the ultimate goal of gender parity
- Increasing management level ethnic/racial diversity to 25%, as we seek to meet full representation of the U.S. workforce at all levels
We employ a combination of strategies to help us advance our ambitions, including:
- Creating more diverse candidate pools
- Fostering a culture of inclusivity and belonging through employee resource groups for employees of all backgrounds
- Investing in processes and systems that deliver transparency
As a result of these efforts, in 2023:
- 39% of all new management-level hires globally were women and 27% of all new management-level hires in the U.S. were people of color
- Nearly 40% of our global workforce has completed an Allyship in Action training course
- We grew management-level female representation to 28% and management-level people of color representation to 20% in the U.S.
Prioritizing Safety Everywhere We Work Through Goal Zero
Our safety goal is always zero incidents. But Goal Zero is more than a number. We place great value on training and education, both at our own facilities and at customer locations. We assess risk before we start work, identify and address safety issues, and remedy hazardous situations — at any Ecolab location and wherever we operate.
By 2030, we aim to train and educate 100% of our associates to work safely 100% of the time.