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2030 Positive Impact
Being a company with a positive impact requires a collective effort — it is a mindset that propels our associates, customers and communities forward. Our plan for creating 2030 Positive Impact reflects our ongoing dedication to moving forward, faster, together as we work with partners to build a positive future.
Our work to create 2030 Positive Impact reflects the change we aim to make for our company, communities, customers and environment. Together, with our customers and supply partners, we are focused on creating lasting positive impact while simultaneously driving business growth. And by 2030, the culmination of advancements across our value chain is expected to result in a net positive water and climate impact, meaning outcomes delivered through use of Ecolab solutions and services outweigh our business’s own resource dependency.
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 Positive Impact around water, climate, diversity, equity and inclusion, and safety.
Achieving a Net Positive Water Impact
Achieving a Net Positive Water Impact
Global water scarcity continues to require urgent action across the world. As a critical resource to all, responsible stewardship and use of water ties our responsibility to our shareholders and communities tightly together. It is a business and a social imperative that we move forward, faster, together to address the global water crisis.
Our vision of a water-resilient future relies on tangible action. For Ecolab, that means continuing to drive water management with our customers, while also identifying opportunities to implement water stewardship projects in our own operations. By 2030, we plan to:
- 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
Tackling Carbon Emissions
Ecolab was an early adopter of science-based climate targets as a signatory of the UN Business Ambition for 1.5°C and continues to pursue climate leadership as part of the UN Global Compact Forward Faster Campaign.
Ecolab has near-term science-based targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% by 2030 from a 2018 base year*. We have committed to achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. We are also working to reduce Ecolab’s Scope 3 emissions by 25% by 2030 from a 2022 base year across a portion of purchased goods and services, fuel- and energy-related activities, upstream transportation and distribution, and use of sold products.
*Includes a 90% absolute reduction of Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions from 2018 base year and Scope 3 GHG emissions from 2022 base year.
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
Fostering a Diverse and Inclusive Workforce
Our culture of inclusion and belonging is focused on supporting and encouraging our associates to reach their full potential. We seek to foster a culture of belonging that reflects our longstanding value of collaborating to include diverse perspectives that challenge ourselves to reach our goals and do what's right. Our 2030 Impact aspirations reflect this commitment, aiming to increase management-level gender diversity to 35% and ethnic/racial diversity to 25%, thereby underscoring our dedication to diversity and access to equal opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds.
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 colour
- 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 colour representation to 20% in the U.S.