Brewing giant Heineken announced today it had endorsed a major water conservancy initiative created by the United Nations (UN).
The UN's CEO Water Mandate "encourages companies to play a more active role in solving issues related to water availability and quality".
Heineken's chief executive Jean-François van Boxmeer said the brewer's endorsement "re-confirms Heineken's existing commitment to both sustainability and water management".
"Over the last few decades, we have consistently reduced our water consumption and improved the quality of the water which we emit at the end of the brewing process", van Boxmeer said.
"However, given the increasing challenges around water availability and quality, the CEO Water Mandate provides us with an excellent platform to share and learn best practice from others in this vitally important area."
Heineken said that in line with the CEO Water Mandate it will "expand its existing approach to water consumption, access and discharge and is currently assessing long-term water availability for all its breweries as input into this process".