Preserving and Restoring Water Resources: The Bel Group’s Experience

Water conservation is no longer just an environmental issue. For companies whose operations depend on agricultural raw materials, industrial sites, and regions prone to water stress, it has become a direct threat to business continuity.

At Tennaxia Connect, held on June 2, Flora Schmitlin, Group CSR Climate, Biodiversity & Water Lead at the Bel Group, shared how the group structures its approach to water. Her presentation highlighted a step-by-step approach: measuring the footprint, understanding the risks, engaging teams, and then incorporating the true value of water into operational and industrial decisions.

Water: A Resource at the Heart of the Business Model

Flora Schmitlin emphasized this right at the start of her remarks: for the Bel Group, water management is a matter of business continuity. The group’s raw materials—whether milk, fruit, or packaging—depend directly on this resource.

This dependence is all the more significant given that industrial sites’ exposure to water vulnerability has increased sharply. By 2025, 74% of the Group’s plants will be located in water-vulnerable areas, including in Europe, compared to 23% in 2012. This trend shows that the issue is not limited to certain regions historically identified as sensitive. It now also affects European territories, with potential impacts on operations, supply chains, and local relations.

In this context, conserving water is not just about reducing consumption. It is about better understanding where dependencies lie, what risks could affect operations, and how the company can take action both at its sites and throughout its value chain.

A water footprint that is primarily within Scope 3

One of the key findings shared by Flora Schmitlin concerns the group’s water footprint, which was calculated in 2023 using a “farm-to-fork” approach based on the EcoInvent database. This analysis shows that Scope 3 accounts for more than 90% of the overall water footprint.

This finding changes the way we approach the issue. Factories remain a key area of focus, but they do not account for all of the challenges. A large portion of the environmental footprint lies in the rest of the value chain, particularly in raw materials and agricultural practices.

Flora Schmitlin also highlighted an important difference compared to carbon. When it comes to water, there is no single indicator that can be used to manage everything. Several factors must be taken into account, particularly quantity and quality.

In terms of quantity, dairy products stand out as the main contributors in absolute terms, while apples have the highest intensity, due to irrigation practices. In terms of quality, dairy products are also identified as a significant factor, particularly in relation to issues involving manure runoff and nitrate pollution.

This more nuanced analysis helps avoid an overly broad approach to the subject. Water must be analyzed by region, use, raw materials, and types of impacts.

An initiative currently being implemented

To move from planning to action, Flora Schmitlin presented an approach that is currently being implemented at every level of the company. It is based on three main drivers.

The first is an ambitious policy structured around a clear roadmap. The goal is to move toward an approach that focuses on the conservation and restoration of water resources, from the agricultural upstream stage all the way to the final product.

The second lever concerns employee engagement. The issue of water cannot be limited to CSR or environmental teams. It must be understood and embraced by the business units. Flora Schmitlin specifically mentioned training and awareness-raising initiatives, as well as the mobilization of 22 internal facilitators.

The third lever focuses on tools. These include the plant water roadmap, the Bel Water Impact Tool, and the internal price of water, also known as the “true cost of water.” These tools are designed to integrate water conservation into day-to-day processes, as closely as possible to operational decision-making.

This combination of policy, training, and tools reflects a simple idea: to act effectively, it’s not enough to simply have a goal. Teams must be given the means to measure, prioritize, and make decisions.

The “true cost of water” to make better investment decisions

One of the most fundamental points of the presentation focused on the “true cost of water.” Flora Schmitlin explained that the prices currently paid by factories do not always reflect the true value of water. They take into account the costs of purchase and treatment, but not all costs, risks, or negative externalities.

The methodology developed is therefore intended to better reflect this true value, in order to guide investment decisions and anticipate risks associated with the resource. It is based on two principles: a dual materiality approach and a local perspective, with a specific price defined for each plant.

This internal price takes several factors into account. It considers the current cost of water, as well as the risk of production losses in the event of water shortages and the site’s impact on the local ecosystem. The goal is not to create yet another theoretical indicator, but to highlight issues that do not always come to light in traditional financial analyses.

This is precisely what allows us to better assess the relevance of certain projects. Flora Schmitlin cited the example of the Hydro project at the Évron site, which aims to reuse water from whey concentration. Thanks to this project, 150,000 m³ of water are expected to be saved each year—equivalent to one-quarter of the site’s water consumption. By factoring in the internal price of water, the project’s return on investment appears much more favorable than in an analysis limited solely to purchase and treatment costs.

This example illustrates the practical role of this tool: to assist in making industrial decisions while taking into account the resource, the associated risks, and the local context.

Making Water a Driver of Resilience

The case study presented by Flora Schmitlin shows that water management is becoming a key management issue in its own right. It involves looking beyond direct consumption, taking the value chain into account, distinguishing between quantity and quality, and considering local specificities.

It also involves linking environmental commitments to investment decisions. That is the whole point of the “true cost of water”: to provide an economic framework for issues related to resources, risk, and impact that are often difficult to incorporate into traditional decision-making processes.

For CSR, EHS, industrial, and procurement departments, the example of the Bel Group serves as a reminder that water can no longer be viewed solely as a cost or an environmental performance indicator. It is a strategic, local, and shared resource, and its preservation is essential both to the resilience of business operations and to companies’ ability to act responsibly in their local communities.

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