Abbott on Clean Water for a Healthy Future

Abbott – Water is essential for life, health, and ecosystems. It’s a critical resource for a global healthcare company that wants to help people all over the world live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

However, due to factors such as population growth, climate change, industrial expansion, and intensive agriculture, water availability and quality are facing global challenges. The United Nations predicts a 40% global water shortage by 2030, and warns that 2.3 billion people worldwide lack adequate access to water and soap for handwashing, both of which are essential for a healthy existence.

Water is essential in our efforts to develop game-changing healthcare technologies. We are committed to managing our water use efficiently and responsibly wherever we work in order to minimize our impact on local resources.

We committed to the following as part of our 2030 Sustainability Plan:

At all high-water-impact manufacturing sites in water-stressed areas, obtain water stewardship certification.

More than 75% of all manufacturing sites operating in water-stressed areas should implement accredited water stewardship management practices.

Abbott

Cooperate with 50 key suppliers in high-water-stressed areas to reduce the risks to Abbott and the community from water quality and quantity.

Every year, we conduct a mapping process to determine where the water we use comes from, how it is treated and discharged, and how our operations affect local supply. During this process, Abbott identified 24 of our manufacturing sites in water-stressed areas around the world.

As a result, we’ve joined the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS), a global collaboration of businesses and non-governmental organizations that work to ensure the long-term viability of local water resources.

Two Abbott sites in high-water-impact and water-stressed areas, in California and Spain, received critical AWS certification in 2022, and four others, in California, Chile, India, and Singapore, are in the process of obtaining certification. During the course of the plan, five more sites are expected to pursue future certification.

Thirteen more Abbott manufacturing facilities

To have the greatest impact on water stewardship, everyone must work together. That is why, as part of our approach, we engage our suppliers in high-water-stressed areas to collaborate with us to reduce risks to water quality and quantity. So far, we’ve worked with 26 Abbott suppliers from water-stressed areas to identify water management opportunities, and we’ve tested stronger partnerships with five key suppliers to reduce our shared-water impacts.

Abbott works with local communities to solve shared water challenges as part of our AWS certification efforts, because successful water management takes into account local water and biodiversity needs. This entails identifying and acting on opportunities to make a difference. As an example:

Our AWS-certified Spanish site donates empty, bulk containers.