Nature is the foundation of Suntory’s business and that is why Suntory strives toward Nature Positive.
Suntory Group’s Commitment to Water Conservation: Ensuring a Sustainable Future
The nature and its ecosystem – forests nurtured by water, rivers, oceans, atmosphere and living creatures – are the valuable management foundation of the Suntory Group’s business. As a company whose products rely on blessings of nature, Suntory Group strives to protect nature and its ecosystem through water source conservation and shift to sustainable agricultural practices and packaging.
As a global beverage company that offers a uniquely diverse portfolio of products ranging from premium spirits, beer and wine to brewed teas, bottled water, still and carbonated soft drinks, water is the most important ingredient for the Group. At the same time, water is a precious shared resource. However, the increase in the world’s population and climate change are causing water resource problems on a global scale, and it is predicted that by 2050, approximately 5 billion people worldwide will suffer from serious water shortages. Many issues are involved in this global water shortage, and drinking water, domestic water use and food production are inseparable from this problem.
The Suntory Group regards itself as part of the natural water cycle, and has been working to conserve water at its plants and at water sources together with the local communities in order to realize a healthy water cycle. The “Natural Water Sanctuary” is an initiative that manage healthy forests which nurture quality ground water. Suntory Group started the initiative 20 years ago and it has expanded to 12,000 ha of forests in 22 locations throughout Japan, recharging twice the amount of groundwater that the Group takes in domestically. The Group now implements water source conservation activities tailored to local conditions in the countries where it operates.
Achieving Water Stewardship: Suntory Group’s Global Efforts and Innovations
Since water is a precious shared resource, it is important to take responsible management and planning of water resources at the catchment level in collaboration with key stakeholders such as the local community. In 2023, Suntory Kyushu Kumamoto Plant received the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Platinum certification, the highest rating within the AWS certification, in recognition of its comprehensive efforts from a watershed perspective for all water use generated by the plant’s production activities.
Agricultural products used for raw ingredients and natural resources for packaging and containers are also essential when considering nature in the Suntory’s business.
For agricultural products, Suntory Group has begun to implement sustainable agricultural methods such as regenerative agriculture, which is considered to be effective in both reducing GHG emissions and improving soil health.
The Group is also promoting the use of sustainable materials for its containers and packaging such as by actively using recycled PET, promoting recycling technology for PET bottles that reduces GHG emissions in the recycling process, and developing PET containers made from bio-based materials.
Nature is complex and everything is interconnected. Whether it is about water or agricultural products or containers and packaging, it is essential to take a comprehensive approach for reducing environmental footprint. The ecosystems created by plants, forests, rivers, oceans, the atmosphere, and other living creatures are the foundation of all life. Our lives and economic activities are all based on the blessings of nature. That is why Suntory Group believes that becoming Nature Positive is essential to sustain the business and hand over this planet and society in a healthy state to the next generations.
