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Zero Water Impact

Zero is the new beautiful™
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Preserving water, powering beauty.

Fresh water is a finite resource and reducing water use impact requires action across the entire product lifecycle – from ingredient sourcing and manufacturing to formulation and ultimately consumer use. 

At Croda Beauty, we go beyond volume-based withdrawal measures to understand where our water use impacts lie, using a bespoke Water Use Impact methodology to understand wider water use impacts and inform our water stewardship practices.

In 2025, we recommitted to our goal to reduce our operational water use impact by 50% by 2030 and focus action on prioritised sites located in areas with high water risks, supported by detailed water risk assessments and site-specific management plans. Our bespoke water impact methodologies, life cycle assessments, and progress towards using product water footprint tools improve transparency and decision‑making. 

 

 

We are making progress

Achieving zero water impact will require the beauty industry to move beyond efficiency and embed water stewardship across the full product lifecycle. From adopting location‑specific targets to focusing on high‑risk basins to scaling consistent water footprint assessments  across value chains. 

Water management at our manufacturing sites, especially those in water-stressed areas, is essential. We use many actions to improve our water stewardship such as water recycling, leak detection programs and digital water usage tracking.

Watch our video, People Behind the Progress: Zero Water impact, to hear more about how the Croda Beauty team at our Mevisa manufacturing site in Spain  and importance of water management in  progressing towards zero.
 
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Powering beauty brands

We assess water impact beyond volumetric reduction helping to provide brands with deeper, more meaningful insight into where water matters most—across the full lifecycle. In parallel, we consider water impact in our innovation programme and have developed ingredients that can reduce water use or support “water-less” or water conscious formats. 

Water‑saving ingredient technologies
Reducing demand for water during manufacturing or consumer use phase helps preserve freshwater.

Water conscious formulation
Innovation ingredients that can work in concentrates, solid and other non-aqueous formats without a sacrifice to performance.

Greater supply chain resilience 
Our focus and commitment to reducing our water use impact at our sites located water stressed areas ensures a more robust and resilient partner in your upstream supply chain.

 

CRODA BEAUTY'S AREAS OF FOCUS

 
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Water-saving innovation

Our plant cell culture technology can significantly reduce water use, compared to conventional agriculture, by eliminating irrigation and improving biomass efficiency.  Additionally, our process enables more efficient and controlled water use
 
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Operational water management

We have a target to reduce water use impacts by 50% at 6 target sites by 2030. Through locally conceptualized and executed initiatives, such as rainwater harvesting in India and reuse of process water in Spain, we are progressing against this target to reduce our operational water use impact.
 
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The science behindzero water impact

Freshwater demand is predicted to exceed supply by more than 40% by 2030 (1), making water stewardship an urgent priority. Around 90% of global water withdrawals are linked to agriculture and business (2), which is highly relevant to beauty, where bio-based raw materials, manufacturing, formulation and consumer use all contribute to water impact. With more than 2 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water (3), it will be important to move beyond efficiency towards a full lifecycle approach.

Achieving zero impact on water requires robust measurement, transparency and action across sourcing, production, product design and use. Frameworks such as ISO 14046, CDP Water Security and the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) provide the basis for consistent measurement, disclosure and setting location-specific targets aligned with the limits of local water basins; however, they are not exhaustive.

At Croda Beauty, our approach to reducing water use impact is being embedded through our bespoke Water Use Impact (WUI) methodology, which considers volumetric consumption, local water stress at source, water displacement effects and the quality of discharged water at manufacturing sites. Water risk is integrated into enterprise planning, supported by our CDP A-  rating for water in 2025.

Practical action is also underway, from rainwater harvesting at sites to innovation that reduces lifecycle water demand, including plant cell culture technologies that can lower reliance on conventional agriculture and ingredients designed for concentrated or no-rinse formulations.
 

1. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/03/global-freshwater-demand-will-exceed-supply-40-by-2030-experts-warn
2. https://www.unesco.org/reports/wwdr/en/wwdr/en/2024/statistics

3. https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/water-sanitation-and-health/monitoring-and-evidence/wash-monitoring

READY TO REDUCE THE WATER IMPACT OF YOUR NEXT BEAUTY INNOVATION?

Discover how robust, operational water stewardship, water-saving ingredient technologies and water conscious formulation expertise can support progress towards zero water use impact.

Talk to our experts about water conscious beauty products.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

zero water impact Description

Croda Beauty uses a number of approaches to reduce water consumption including improvements at manufacturing sites, innovation processes designed to use less water, ingredients designed for non-aqueous or solid formats and fast-rinsing ingredients that reduce water use at the consumer use phase.

Croda has implemented a range of strategies to reduce their water use impact. This includes:

  • Water recycling and reuse
  • Installation of water-efficient fixtures and equipment
  • Rainwater harvesting
  • Process optimisation to reduce water use
  • Leak detection and repair programs
  • Employee training on water conservation
  • Technologies that can avoid water use downstream, such as rinse-free products

    Examples of recent project include:
  • Collection of rainwater at site to be more self-sufficient
  • Effluent water treatment optimisation

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