PURCHASE, N.Y., June 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PepsiCo today announced it has expanded access to safe water1 to nearly 16 million people in some of the world's most water-stressed areas, including 10 million people in India, since it launched its Performance with Purpose vision in 2006. The company has invested more than $40 million in safe water access solutions with strategic partners as part of its goal to support a total of 25 million people with safe water access by 2025.
"At PepsiCo, we believe water is a fundamental human right and that access to safe water is one of the most urgent global challenges," said Roberta Barbieri, PepsiCo Vice President, Global Sustainability. "Over the last decade, we have been focused on grassroots solutions to this challenge as well as partnering with experts in communities around the world to support innovative, sustainable and local water solutions. Access to safe water is at the heart of PepsiCo's global water strategy, in which we aim to enable long-term, sustainable water security for our business and others who depend on water availability."
As a result of current water use habits, population growth and the effects of climate change, a staggering four billion people are affected by water scarcity2 and by 2050, global demand for water will increase by as much as 50 percent3. Two-thirds of the world's population currently lives in areas that experience water scarcity for at least one month a year and about half of those affected live in China and India4.
To reach more individuals in need, the PepsiCo Foundation announced today a $4.2 million grant to WaterAid, a leading international water and sanitation non-governmental organization, to provide clean water access to communities in southern India facing extreme water shortages, specifically in Palakkad (Kerala), Nelamangala (Karnakata), and Sri City (Andhra Pradesh).
Water scarcity and sustainable management of water resources is a critical challenge that India is grappling with. This grant from the PepsiCo Foundation seeks to implement solutions that will help increase access to clean water for more than 200,000 people; build community and government capacity to manage water resources; and educate community members to adopt sustainable sanitation and hygiene practices.
"Strong public-private partnerships drive scalable and lasting impact, and we are proud to work with PepsiCo to bring clean water to hundreds of thousands of people in need," said Sarina Prabasi, U.S. CEO of WaterAid. "To improve access to clean water, it's essential that corporations step up and invest in collaborative action, just as PepsiCo is doing as part of its leading Performance with Purpose agenda."
In addition, the PepsiCo Foundation announced last week an additional $2 million donation to the China Women's Development Foundation, an organization PepsiCo has been working with since 2001. PepsiCo is the first Fortune 500 global corporation to participate in their flagship "Water Cellars for Mothers" initiative, which provides safe and effective solutions to improve water access in areas with no water infrastructure today.
The new investment seeks to provide access to safe water to more than 10 million people by 2025 by improving environmental conditions near the Danjiangkou Water Reservoir, where small water sources are often contaminated. The program has become an important supplement to the Chinese government's safe water access project and a role model for philanthropic collaboration between the government, businesses and NGOs.
As part of its signature platform, Performance with Purpose, PepsiCo helps communities effectively conserve, manage, and distribute water across the United States, Latin America, China and India with a portfolio of partners including Safe Water Network, Water.org, WaterAid, China Women's Development Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Nature Conservancy and the 2030 Water Resources Group.
For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com/Purpose/Global-Citizenship.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $63 billion in net revenue in 2017, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker, and Tropicana. PepsiCo's product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our fundamental belief that the success of our company is inextricably linked to the sustainability of the world around us. We believe that continuously improving the products we sell, operating responsibly to protect our planet, and empowering people around the world enable PepsiCo to run a successful global company that creates long-term value for society and our shareholders. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com.
About PepsiCo Foundation
Established in 1962, the PepsiCo Foundation works with non-profit partners to develop innovative, sustainable solutions that address challenges in underserved communities around the world. The Foundation, along with PepsiCo and its employees, seeks to catalyze efforts that advance our Performance with Purpose 2025 goals related to increasing access to nutritious servings, providing access to safe water, partnering to increase recycling rates, and enabling young women to progress through school and be successful in the workforce. For more information, please visit www.pepsico.com/Purpose/Global-Citizenship.
About WaterAid
WaterAid is working to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. The international nonprofit organization works in 34 countries to change the lives of the poorest and most marginalized people. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 25.8 million people with clean water and 25.1 million people with decent toilets. For more information, please visit www.wateraid.org/us.
About China Women's Development Foundation
China Women's Development Foundation (CWDF), established in December 1988, is a nation-wide non-profit social welfare organization registered in Ministry of Civil Affairs with the approval of the People's Bank of China, and functions as an independent corporate legal representative. For the past 20 years, CWDF, with the funding support and assistance of domestic and international enterprises, public service institutions, social organizations and individuals, has faithfully carried out its duty of improving women's overall competence, upholding women's lawful rights and interests, and promoting the development of women and women undertakings. Through such charity programs as "Micro Credit for Mothers," "Water Cellar for Mothers," "Health Express Train for Mothers" and "Mother Post Parcel" as well as aid projects like "Aid to Poor Mothers of Heroes," CWDF has provided a platform for underprivileged social groups, including poor rural women, poor university women students, unemployed women workers and children of national heroes and martyrs, to move out of poverty and embrace a better life.
1 For PepsiCo, access to safe water is achieved at the watershed, community and household levels by making water more readily available, better managing supply or volume of water and/or ensuring quality through water treatment, improved hygiene and community sanitation.
2 http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/2/e1500323 Mekonnen and Hoekstra 2016
3 https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/28096/9781464811791.pdf
4 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002475/247553e.pdf Wastewater, The Untapped Report, 2017 UNESCO
SOURCE PepsiCo