Water stress. A few more laps yet

Oct 5, 2011 | Blogs

After the July 2011 announcement by the UK Government’s Committee on Climate Change that theUK’s water security is “close to the edge”.  A food and drink industry body has good news for us all- and especially for the 2012 London Olympics.

The Federation House Commitment’s (FHC) annual report, published this week, revealed that 54 firms have now made a voluntary commitment to a 20% cut in water use by 2020.  Signatories to the Government-backed FHC include Corporate Citizenship friends – Britvic, Coca Cola Enterprises, SAB Miller, Mars, Kraft and Unilever.  The report also highlights that last year, water use amongst the group fell by 5.3 percent.  That is enough water to not only fill theStratford pool, but 519 other olympic swimming pools.  However, Nick Bunker, chairman of the Food and Drink Federation’s sustainability steering group and president of Kraft FoodsUK &Ireland, said the industry could not afford to “rest on its laurels”.

Quite so!  When it comes to climate change we’re definitely in the marathon, not the 100 metres.