Industry thought leaders and executives gather to accelerate collective water and climate action

• Attendees from top industry leaders across businesses including Black & Veatch, Cargill, FritoLay and others tackle key water and climate challenges for industry, at Grundfos Industry Sustainability Summit in Lenexa, KS 
• Revival Beer made from 100% recycled water purified by H2O Innovation and Grundfos technology served

30 September 2024: Water is our most fundamental global resource and it’s under increasing pressure. Globally, demand for fresh water is expected to outstrip supply by 40% by the end of this decade^[1], and industry is a large consumer of water, with more than 22% of the total global withdrawals being used for industrial purposes.^[2] This figure is even higher in industrialised nations. Increasingly, significant impacts from climate change are also directly connected to water. In fact, 69% of climate impacts are expressed through water, including more severe water shortages, floods and other severe weather events.^[3]

With this context in mind, executives from across the industrial use sector came together for the second annual Grundfos Industry Sustainability summit to tackle key business challenges, and to work to accelerate meaningful climate action and water stewardship.

At a panel on Industrial Water Stewardship, Circularity and Reuse, experts including Guillaume Clairet, Chief Operating Officer of H2O Innovation, Michael Lesniak, VP of Partnerships at Aquatech International, Michael Skovgaard Jensen, Business Development Director at Grundfos, and Matt Howard, VP of Water Stewardship at The Water Council, focussed on the need for companies to consider water-energy nexus when thinking about their own water stewardship. The panellists also stressed the importance of making net-zero targets and goals context-based to ensure they are verifiable, measurable and crucially achievable.

During a separate session, speakers from Cargill, PepsiCo, E4E Solutions and a Water Environment Federation fellow covered sustainability in the Food & Beverage industry and highlighted the importance of focusing on environmental sustainability more broadly, in order to drive meaningful action.

Courtney Tripp, Grundfos Senior Sustainability and Strategy Manager said: “According to data, by 2050, close to 60% of the world’s population could experience extremely high water stress at least one month a year^[4]. This will clearly have a significant impact on public health, economic growth and social stability, and it brings into sharp relief the need for high consumers of water to tackle reduce and reuse strategies.

“The outstanding engagement of our attendees and experts at the Summit is a testament to everyone’s acknowledgement that collaboration is critical to addressing the world’s water and climate challenges.”

In addition to the calls for collaboration and action, the Sustainability Summit highlighted how much of the technology exists today to make meaningful progress toward a net zero, water secure world. As part of Grundfos’ mission to showcase the effective and impactful water reuse solutions already on the market, attendees at the Summit were also able to enjoy Revival Beer, a pale ale brewed by Spangalang and made from 100% recycled water, purified using technologies from Grundfos and H2O Innovation.