“Xylem is privileged to work on water and other essential resource challenges around the world. And we feel great responsibility to make a difference. That’s our mission. Working with our customers and other partners, we’re taking action across multiple fronts to help communities, businesses and other users of water solve many of their water and climate-related problems.”
We believe the world has the “Opportunity of a Lifetime” to solve global water challenges. This is more than an aspiration. It’s a real-world aim that is within sight. It’s achievable. And it’s our mission at Xylem.
On average, 17.8 million people worldwide are at risk of being displaced by floods every year, while the number facing water stress rose to 2.3 billion1.
Major water challenges — like water scarcity, water affordability, severe weather andother impacts from climate change — continue to escalate around the world. We see this every day in the news headlines. And for millions of people, water issues are a daily, constant struggle for their families and communities.
But there are also unprecedented opportunities to solve the biggest challenges: from new technologies, to evolving public and corporate policies, to raising public awareness and beyond.
The world can and must seize this moment.
Xylem is privileged to work on water and other essential resources challenges around the world. And we feel great responsibility to make a difference. That’s our mission. That’s why our sustainability report is more than a set of metrics. It’s a report card on the difference we’re making, and our progress toward achieving our mission.
Working with our customers and other partners, we’re taking action across multiple fronts to help communities, businesses and other users of water solve many of their water and climate-related problems.
In 2021, we continued to progress our Sustainability strategy and 2025 Signature Sustainability Goals, designed to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This includes recycling 100% of process water at 8 of our 22 major facilities, committing to setting Science-Based and Net-Zero targets, and reaching nearly 80% of our colleagues giving back to their communities through volunteering.
However, we recognize the growing urgency in addressing water challenges, and the need to accelerate progress. So last year, we began to intensify our efforts around three areas of focus:
First, we’re helping our customers and the communities they serve become more effective stewards of their water resources. We do this by providing world-leading solutions, technologies and services. For example, our innovative digital offerings are transforming water management and helping a number of large energy utilities — enabling breakthroughs in affordability and efficiency, paired with reduced operational cost and complexity.
Our second major area of focus is to address climate mitigation by helping to decarbonize the water sector, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- We continue to develop and provide leading-edge products and solutions that help to make water production more energy efficient.
- We’ve committed to achieving Net-Zero by 2050 as part of our broader goal to reduce our company’s carbon footprint.
- And, we are partnering with other industry leaders to accelerate the water sector’s “Race to Zero.”
Third, we continue to advance equity − by providing solutions, expertise, education and support to foster equitable access to clean water and sanitation around the world, and by building a culture that promotes fairness and inclusion and empowers colleagues to perform at their very best.
Emerging from a global pandemic, it’s clearer than ever that people are our best assets. Our colleagues are the key to ensuring our sustainability. So, we’re taking action to strengthen and enhance our culture:
- Building a culture and organization to help ensure that all colleagues are included and have their voices heard, and creating a workplace that is flexible to our people’s needs;
- Developing the next generation of talent to enter the water workforce;
- And taking care of the communities where we live and work. This includes supporting our colleagues in and around Ukraine and other communities around the world facing natural disaster, where the support of organizations such as Xylem with unique expertise and resources to assist and ensure their safety and well-being can make a critical difference.
In a period of global conflict, climate change, ongoing impacts from the pandemic, and vast inequity, the role of water in community prosperity and human health is more apparent than ever.
Water is life: fundamental to humankind, our environment and our future.
As we share this year’s report, we’re taking action, working with our customers and other partners to solve communities’ greatest water and climate challenges, constantly striving to create a more sustainable world.
Patrick Decker
President and CEO
Xylem
1. Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre: Global Report on Internal Displacement 2019