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Our businesses work to reduce water consumption, strive to reuse water where possible and return treated water safely to the environment.
A sugar cane irrigation system at the Ubombo estate in Eswatini
Water is an essential input for clothing and food production. Our businesses aim to reduce the amount of water they abstract for their operations, reuse water as much as possible and return treated waste water to nature after ensuring it meets or exceeds local and national water regulations and standards. In line with our devolved business model, our businesses set and manage appropriate plans and commitments to achieve these aims.
In 2026, businesses across the Group collectively abstracted 762 million m3 of water for use in their own operations, a 6% decrease compared with last year. The reduction primarily reflects lower water abstraction across some of our sugar businesses in Africa driven by earlier seasonal rainfall and higher rainfall levels than in the prior year. Our African sugar businesses accounted for 97% of this total abstraction, with the majority of the water used for sugar cane irrigation. Those businesses are working to reduce their water footprint, with innovative irrigation projects underway.
Of the water used by our businesses, 97% comes from surface water, such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs. The remaining water comes from groundwater and third-party sources.
In 2026, across the Group, 24% of the water abstracted in our own operations was reused before being returned to the environment. Reusing water is a more cost and resource efficient way of managing water. Our sites reuse the water for irrigation, land spreading, process reuse where feasible, cleaning vehicles and machinery, and horticultural purposes. The businesses, in particular AB Mauri and ABF Sugar, are assessing new ways of reusing water within their manufacturing sites, aiming to reduce the amount of water abstracted and enhance operational efficiency.
To identify and manage potential risks to our operations in areas facing water scarcity, we carried out a high-level water risk assessment in 2024 for our Group operations using internationally recognised methodologies to identify sites operating in water-stressed areas. The findings of the assessment remain relevant and continue to be considered appropriate for 2026, as the location of our businesses’ manufacturing sites has remained largely unchanged. Due to the demerger and changes in other businesses we intend to update our assessment in 2027. We provide a more detailed picture of water-stress risk in our CDP submission.
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABF | 791 | 859 | 880 | 808 | 762 |
| Retail | Grocery | Ingredients | Sugar | Agriculture | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| million m³ | 1 | 5 | 16 | 741 | 0.2 |
Our businesses’ sites return as much water as possible to the environment by treating the waste water on-site and/or by using external treatment plants.
Water treatment is a key topic for AB Mauri. Since 2010, the business has invested USD 160m in improving its wastewater treatment facilities. Production facilities in several locations have on-site effluent treatment plants that include conventional and advanced biological processes, high pressure membranes and evaporators that can produce reusable water and useful co-products. The selection of technologies addresses the local aquatic sensitivities and water quality objectives.
Water is used throughout the supply chains across our businesses, and efficient water use in agriculture has become increasingly crucial, especially under changing climate conditions. Some of our businesses incorporate water management strategies in the farm management standards they use to address this challenge. For instance, Westmill aims to promote the standards of the Sustainable Rice Platform (‘SRP’), the Primark Cotton Project trains farmers to reduce water use, and ABF Sugar, through the use of the SAI Platform FSA 3.0 tool, works closely with its growers to enhance water efficiency.
Primark’s water stewardship approach aims to strengthen water management practices, reduce water impacts and build resilience to water-related risks throughout its supply chain. The approach reflects the growing pressures that climate change, a rising demand for freshwater and increasing pollution are placing on water resources in many of its sourcing regions. Across its supply chain and sourcing regions, the business seeks to reduce water consumption, improve wastewater management and support collective action in priority river basins.
Wastewater treatment at AB Mauri Maya's yeast plant in Bandrima, Türkiye
