Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages (NW&PB) has become the first food and beverage company globally to achieve 100% Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) standard for all of its bottling sites.
In what the company said marked a significant step forward in corporate water stewardship, all 39 of its sites around the world – from those in Belgium and Turkey in Europe, for example, to its operations in the Middle East, Africa, and South America – have received AWS certification.
The milestone includes two sites – Buxton in the UK and Tunuyan in Argentina – reaching ‘AWS Platinum’ status, the highest level of certification. The AWS standard is widely regarded as the globally recognised independent framework for water stewardship, guiding companies to manage water use responsibly within their operations, catchments, and communities.
The achievement comes at a time of mounting global water stress, as climate change and extreme weather events place increasing pressure on freshwater resources. NW&PB’s approach emphasises collaboration beyond factory boundaries, working with local stakeholders to improve water resilience at a watershed level.
Alongside certification, the company – which manages brands including S.Pellegrino, Maison Perrier, Buxton and Nestlé Pure Life – has implemented 70 water regeneration projects worldwide, designed to protect, restore and replenish water resources. These initiatives, measured using the World Resources Institute’s Volumetric Water Benefit Accounting methodology, collectively regenerated 14.1 million cubic metres of water annually by the end of 2025. As projects mature, the business expects to return more water to local environments than it uses in its operations.
Investment has also been channelled into large-scale programmes in key European markets. In France, the Agrivair Garrigue initiative aims to enhance biodiversity and protect water resources in the Gard region through sustainable agriculture and habitat restoration. Meanwhile, in Italy, the F.O.N.T.E programme will extend ongoing efforts to safeguard water basins and ecosystems, backed by tens of millions of euros in funding through to 2030.
Strategic partnerships remain central to the company’s approach. NW&PB has extended its collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which provides scientific guidance and supports alignment with nature-based solutions for water management.
Muriel Lienau, CEO of NW&PB, said the milestone reflects long-standing commitments to water stewardship. She noted that “good water stewardship is part of our DNA” and described water resilience as “a strategic imperative for our business”, while highlighting the importance of collaboration to address shared challenges across regions.
Lienau added that the company remains committed to protecting and restoring water resources, emphasising that “no one can achieve this on their own” and that partnerships at catchment level are essential for delivering meaningful impact.
Adrian Sym, chief executive of the Alliance for Water Stewardship, underlined the importance of robust global frameworks, stating that “a global independent standard… is essential” in an era of increasing resource volatility. He praised NW&PB’s “collaborative, localised, context-based solutions” and described its bottom-up approach as “exemplary”, noting the company’s role in providing insights to help scale water stewardship efforts worldwide.
From a conservation perspective, James Dalton, global director for water and wetlands at IUCN, stressed the need for integrated approaches. He said that “integrated action and decision-making on water, biodiversity and climate is essential” and pointed to NW&PB’s progress as evidence of this. Looking ahead, he indicated the partnership would focus on expanding the positive impact of regeneration projects and strengthening collective action to restore freshwater ecosystems.
With full AWS certification now in place, NW&PB is positioning itself to scale its water stewardship efforts further, saying it is aligning business resilience with environmental sustainability at a global level.
Read more about retailer water stewardship on Green Retail World
[image credit: Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages]
