Water

Water is a precious resource and we're committed to using water effectively in our production processes and across our sites. Water scarcity is an increasing challenge in many parts of the world.

As the world tackles climate change, our bio-energy demands will exacerbate water demand, meaning many will face water scarcity due to both physical shortages and scarcity in access. We use water in a number of our manufacturing processes, and we recognise that in some instances our water demands are in areas of increasing water stress. By improving our water usage we will positively impact the local communities in which we operate, and therefore society more generally.

Water is used both for production operations and sanitary purposes in our facilities. Our aim is to utilise water sustainably throughout our business. By 2030, we intend to reduce our overall water consumption by 30% and decrease water usage in high-stress areas by 30% (compared to a 2015 baseline). 

Our Aspiration Our 2030 Goals

Use water sustainably across our business
  • 30% reduction in water use in high and extremely high stress areas
  • 30% reduction in total water usage

2022 progress and performance

  • Total water withdrawal is 1.93 million m3; which is a 12% increase over 2021 levels and 18% decrease over 2015. The negative trend towards water withdrawal is due to increase in production demand and a few major water leak incidents across the business.
  • Water withdrawal intensity is measured at 1,739 m3/£m GBP, compared to 1,821 m3/£m GBP of 2021.
  • Total water withdrawal in high water-stressed areas is 1% lower than 2021 and 34% decrease over 2015.
  • Achieved a “B” management score for Water Security from CDP, recognising we are taking coordinated action on water issues.

In 2022, our overall water usage increased by 11.6%, driven by volume increases, changes in mix to more water-intensive products and processes and some significant water leaks. We experienced an increase in water withdrawal due to heightened production demand and an isolated incident at one of our sites, resulting in a significant water leak. This occurrence contributed to an additional 112,000 m3 of water withdrawal. Excluding this incident, our annual withdrawal would have improved by an additional 5% over 2015 levels. We expect to observe a decrease in the total water withdrawal number in 2023 as the water savings projects completed during the 2022 year show full effect.

Our water usage in stressed areas decreased by 0.7%, despite volume growth, showing the impact of improvement projects in our plants in high water stress areas.

Water stressed areas
Morgan Advanced Materials identifies water-stressed sites using the 'Aqueduct Projected Water Stress Country Rankings' (https://www.wri.org/data/aqueduct-projected-water-stress-country-rankings). We determine our water stressed sites by referring to the list of countries categorised into high (40-80% | score 3-4) and extremely high (>80% score 4-5) water stress levels.

We utilise the 2030 business-as-usual scenario for industrial water usage to classify sites in water-stressed areas. For 2021 ad 2022 water stressed areas identification, we used country rankings based on 2020 database of 'Aqueduct Projected Water Stress Country Rankings'. For 2022 the list of water-stressed sites included Spain, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, India, UAE, Argentina, and Australia. Additionally, the Morgan sites in the State of California (USA) are included in Morgan’s water stress figures, based on water stress issues within the California state.

Based on the 2022 published database from ‘Aqueduct Projected Water Stress Country Rankings’ the Morgan sites will be revised for the 2023 ESG reporting cycle. The revised water stress areas include Spain, Italy, Turkey, Mexico, India, UAE, China, Australia, CA-USA. This change will be reflected in the 2023 ESG reporting cycle (Jan-Dec 2023) and we will restate our water stress numbers accordingly. We concentrate more on water-stressed area sites within Morgan to identify areas for water saving, CAPEX allocation, and water withdrawal reduction targets.

What's next?
Morgan Advanced Materials is committed to investing in CAPEX projects aimed at achieving water savings across our global sites. These water-saving initiatives will include various methods, such as rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling. In addition, we have started a programme to detect and reduce water leaks at our production sites, as part of our efforts to address the water losses identified in 2022.