Nestlé in society Creating Shared Value and meeting our commitments 2015

Nestlé in society:
Creating Shared Value
Nutrition, health
and wellness
Rural development
Water
Environmental
sustainability
Human rights
and compliance
Our
people
Water G4-DMA
Material issues
Nestlé uses a formal materiality process to identify the most
important issues for our stakeholders and our business. The
results are communicated in a materiality matrix.
Our material issues are also considered and mapped with
regard to their degree of importance in different parts of the
Nestlé value chain. In the value chain, ‘Agriculture’ includes
smallholder farmers with whom we do not have direct
relationships, and ‘Tier 1 suppliers’ refers to those suppliers in
direct commercial relationships with Nestlé.
The Nestlé value chain
Agriculture
Tier 1
suppliers
Nestlé
Retail/
business
channels
Consumers
Each material issue is made up of a number of sub-issues, which
are highlighted during the research process. They are used as a
lens to help define the scope of analysis. In this section, we have
provided a synthesis of the findings related to water.
Water stewardship was rated as being of concern to our
stakeholders and of strategic importance to our business. It
includes sub-issues associated with water: quality, water
security, water use, and hygiene and health. Our success in
water stewardship will have a significant impact on ensuring
the secure supply of agricultural raw materials and our licence
to operate, particularly for the Nestlé Waters business. The
efficient use of water enhances the efficiency of our agricultural
supply chain and reduces costs at our operating sites.
Our stakeholders expect us to respond to the challenge of
water scarcity and collaborate on the shared management
of water resources. Access to water, sanitation and hygiene is
an action area for our stakeholders, and critical to both the
Nestlé supply chain and in ensuring the efficacy of our
nutrition products.
Our commitments
Nestlé’s commitments are a response to the material issues of
our business and are reviewed by external stakeholders. Our
five water stewardship commitments and their objectives help
us reduce risks and improve our performance. In practical
terms, they guide our teams across the business when
agreeing roles and responsibilities, action plans, deliverables
and deadlines.
In 2015, our five commitments on water remained as follows:
• Work to achieve water efficiency and sustainability across
our operations;
• Advocate for effective water policies and stewardship;
• Treat the water we discharge effectively;
• Engage with suppliers, especially those in agriculture; and
• Raise awareness on water conservation, and improve
access to water and sanitation across our value chain.
Our progress against the commitment objectives is indicated
throughout the chapter using the following icons:
Achieved
In progress
Not yet achieved
New objective
MATERIALITY ISSUE VALUE CHAIN KEY: Moderate Significant Major
Agriculture Tier 1
Suppliers
Nestlé
Retail/
business
channels
Consumers
Water stewardship
Implementing the actions, individually and/or collectively,
needed for the sustainable management of shared water
resources, including enabling access to water, sanitation and
hygiene.
Sub-issues defined
• Hygiene and health: enabling access to clean and safe water
for drinking and hygiene and adequate sanitation services.
• Water quality: preventing the release of harmful substances
into the water by treating discharged water appropriately.
• Water security: safeguarding sustainable access to adequate
quantities of and acceptable quality water for sustaining
livelihoods, human well-being, and for ensuring protection
against water-borne pollution.
• Water use: reducing the waste, misuse or overuse of water
while optimising opportunities for water reuse or repurposing
through efficient consumption practices.
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