STWI Global Results 2015

GLOBAL RESULTS 2015
Collaborating to drive global change towards sustainable
textile and leather production

ABOUT US
THE CONTEXT
Founded in 2010, Sweden Textile Water Initiative
is a unique collaboration between over
30 Swedish textile and leather brands and
the Stockholm International Water Institute
(SIWI). In 2015, with funding and support
from the Swedish International Development
Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the initiative
expanded to become one of Sweden’s largest
public-private partnerships.
Delivering measurable results in global supply
chains across high risk major production
hubs, the Sweden Textile Water Initiative has
scaled up to include more brands, their suppliers
and sub-suppliers in Bangladesh, China,
Ethiopia, India and Turkey.
Triple win business model
With its unique model that delivers a triple
win for environment, business and society,
annual results complied from factories enrolled
in the programme have over-performed
on the majority of their already ambitious
targets. At the same time, the Initiative has
continued to bring attention to the water
related challenges facing the industry and has
worked intensively to influence international
regulations and build industrial water governance
capacities across the globe.
2015 Overview
In January 2015, Sweden Textile Water Initiative
piloted in three of the five production
hub countries involved in the programme;
Bangladesh, China, Turkey. Later on in 2015
work started in Ethiopia, since a more comprehensive
startup phase was needed there.
Award winning work
A Sweden Textile Water Initiative project
was awarded the prestigious 2015 Habit
Fashion Award for Sustainability. Honoured
for efficiency in water consumption, energy
and chemical use in the textile industry, the
project was also selected as a finalist for the
2015 Global Leadership Award in Sustainable
Apparel Award (GLASA).
Through building capacities on
water, energy and chemical use in the textile
industry, our partnership has succssfully built
a platform that is catalysing global change
from the factoy base. Success to date has been
rapid and substantial, sparking international
interest, requests for deeper partnerships and
the ambition to continue scaling up.
Since 2014, the textile industry has accounted
for USD 400 billion in annual global exports
and 8 per cent of world trade in manufactured
goods. With an expect growth of around
USD 100 billion a year, and as one of many
sectors that use large amounts of water, ideally
the industry should become 40 per cent more
water efficient by 2020. Before hitting the USD
trillion mark.
In many Asian production countries, the
textile industry is the fourth largest industrial
water user. Additionally, the World Bank estimates
that 20 per cent of industrial freshwater
pollution is caused by the textile industry,
positioning it in many production countries as
the single largest industrial water polluter.
In response to this development, international
fashion brands have been organizing themselves
to address future water risk. But for
a variety of reasons, implementation on the
ground has barely scaled-up.
Rooted equally in practice and policy and
dedicated to guiding a self-perpetuating shift
towards sustainable use of resources in supply
chains Swedish Textile Water initiative was
designed to create a triple win scenario:
Financial win for supplying factories
through efficient process optimization
Environmental win by decreasing the
use and pollution of natural resources
Societal win for workers (improved
health) and for societies downstream
(more water available for other uses
such as human consumption and food
security)
In May 2012 Sweden Textile Water Initiative
launched the first version of the “Guidelines
for sustainable use of water in the textile and
leather industry.” The documents, available
under a creative commons license, provide
suppliers with clear advice on improving water
efficiency, water pollution prevention and
better wastewater management in production
processes.
Compliance with the guidelines is the bare
minimum requirement, the ultimate aim is to
drive water stewardship.
>> Download the Guidelines at stwi.se
High risk water stressed zones

RESULTS : 2015 RESULTS : 2015
In January 2015, Sweden Textile Water Initiatives started working in major production hubs
across 4 countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Turkey. More than 300 interventions were implemented
by factory management between March 2015 and January 2016. Work in Ethiopia started
in October 2015 meaning that results can be reported at a later date
Key overall results
Trainees: Swedish Textile Water Initiative
trained more than 12000 people at 72 factories
in four countries at all managerial levels.
Investment by factories: 43.3 MSEK
for all the 300+ projects that have been implemented
at their own cost, as suggested by the
Sweden Textile Water Initiative team.
For all identified and achieved interventions, a
number have not been able to provide quantitative
results. To get a glimpse of the division
of interventions identified for quantifiable
and non-quantifiable (other) results, see the
following figures:
16%
8%
6%
27%
15%
22%
Annual cost savings by factories:
39 MSEK in operational costs reduced, and
recurring annually, due to improved efficiency
of water, energy and chemical use.
Return on Investment for factories:
89% on average, for all one-time-investments
achieved by factories, an annual 89% financial
return is expected after payback time.
23%
43%
Turkey
36%
15% 13%
India
27%
24%
Private Capital Mobilised: 176%.
Accounting for the volume of investments,
STWI has mobilized 1.76 SEK in private financing
for every 1 SEK spent as publicly financed
subsidy.
Key water results
• Water: ca 2.5 Million Cubic Meters of
water saved on an annual basis.
• Daily need for 49,880,000 people*
• Annual need for 136,660 people*
• Annual need for 546 families of 5
• Annual need for 11 villages of 250
• 4 times the volume of the Stockholm
Globe.
* based on the UN Human Right to Water
minimum: 50 Liters per day per capita
5%
45%
12%
Bangladesh
21%
19%
China
19%
Water savings
2,494,000 m3 (8,25%)
Turkey (12%)
613,000 m3
India (9%)
93,000 m3
Bangladesh (5%)
388,000 m3
China: (8%)
1,400,000 m3
Fuel savings
12,533 MT (11%)
Turkey (18%)
2,635 MT natural gas
India (10%)
3920 MT wood
1026 MT coal
412 MT petcoke
Bangladesh (5%)
3,500 MT natural gas
China: (7%)
1040 MT natural gas (7%)
Chemicals savings
1,140 MT (6%)
Turkey (18%)
115 MT
India (2%)
72 MT
Bangladesh (5%)
1038 MT
China (0,01%)
30 MT

ABOUT US
Founded in 2010, Sweden Textile Water Initiative is a unique collaboration
between over 30 Swedish textile and leather brands and the Stockholm
International Water Institute (SIWI).
In 2015, with funding and support from the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the initiative expanded to
become one of Sweden’s largest public-private partnerships. Delivering
measurable results in global supply chains across major production hubs,
the Sweden Textile Water Initiative is the largest global supply chain
programme working with the factory base for their own improvement.
www.stwi.se
@STWI_Water