The company’s solutions have empowered its customers to reuse 4.3B m3 of water, and kept 1.4B m3 of polluted water from potentially flooding communities and entering waterways
Xylem has helped its customers reuse more than one trillion gallons of water, according to its 2020 Sustainability Report, Solving Water for a Resilient World. The company’s technology also prevented 369 billion gallons of polluted water from potentially flooding communities and entering local waterways.
Water reuse and pollution prevention are two of Xylem’s sustainability goals, targeted for achievement by 2025.
Deployment of advanced water technologies is driving the sustainability gains globally. The City of South Bend, Indiana, optimised its existing wastewater network with artificial intelligence (AI) systems to deliver an 80% reduction in sewer overflows. A treatment plant in Cuxhaven, Germany, cut aeration energy use by 30% using Xylem technology. And a water utility in Malaysia identified more than 300 leaks in its network using in-pipe sensors, helping reduce the loss of treated water.
Last year, Xylem made progress towards its 2025 sustainability goals, despite the additional challenges of COVID-19. Through its advanced products and technologies, the company helped its customers reduce their carbon footprint by 0.7 million metric tonnes of CO2. Xylem is also running almost half of its major facilities on renewable electricity, and has committed to transition its global vehicle fleet to electric and hybrid, targeting an initial 45% reduction in fleet CO2 emission by 2023.
In addition to advancing its existing sustainability goals in 2020, Xylem made new commitments to address the pandemic’s impact, around the world. The company doubled philanthropic investments and extended new support to employees, business partners and communities they serve. It also expanded relationships with its global NGO partners, like Americares and UNICEF, supporting 4.1 million people in underserved communities to get access to water and sanitation and providing 3.6 million people with water education to raise awareness and improve their quality of life.
Claudia Toussaint, CSO for Xylem, said: “We navigate difficult times in ways that make us stronger and more resilient – and support our customers and communities to do the same. With that mindset, we pulled together across our organisation and with our partners around the globe, to help mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 while continuing to deliver on our sustainability commitments.”
