Background
Fresh water is distributed very unequally, both globally and seasonally, and climate change is exacerbating this problem. With population growth and increased usage, water consumption worldwide is rising by one percent each year. Seventeen countries, home to one-quarter of the world’s population, are suffering from “extremely high water stress” (Water Resources Institute 2019) – and as a result from food scarcity and conflicts as well. Then there is the problem of global water pollution from the pesticides, fertilisers, antibiotics and growth hormones that are used in agriculture, as well as the issue of industrial chemicals. In addition, 12.7 tonnes of plastic waste land in the world’s oceans every year. Throughout the REWE Group’s supply chains, water is consumed and polluted – in the cultivation of ornamental plants, fruits and vegetables, in fish farming, in the mining of natural stone, in timber and cotton production, in manufacturing paper, in the companies that process metal and plastic, in manufacturing cosmetics and in textile production.