General Mills Drafts Water Policy

General Mills released a new water policy this week that aims to improve the health of watersheds, particularly those critical to the company’s business.

The scope of the water policy includes General Mills’ supply chain as well as its suppliers.

It involves a four-phase strategy:

1. Global assessment of water stress to identify priority watersheds.
2. Deep-dive analysis of priority watersheds to understand challenges and opportunities, including positive and negative impact of General Mills operations.
3. Establishment of a multi-stakeholder science-based water stewardship action plan, including consultation with local stakeholders from relevant sectors (industry, agriculture, government, NGO, and communities).
4. Implementation of water stewardship plan and monitoring for outcomes.

General Mills also this week signed the CEO Water Mandate, a public-private initiative launched in 2007 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to encourage companies to develop, implement and disclose water sustainability policies and practices.

Two thirds of the world’s largest companies — including Merck, Unilever and H&M — are reporting exposure to water risks, some of which have potential to limit growth, according to CDP’s latest annual global water report published earlier this month.