How WWF and Macy’s Are Shaping a Collective Vision for Corporate Water Stewardship
- Date: 17 December 2024
In October, staff from WWF had the opportunity to attend Macy’s Market Brand Sustainability Summit to discuss the importance of addressing freshwater across the corporate value chain and how companies can contribute through vendor engagement, landscape level interventions, and collective action to improve the planet’s health. WWF has been working with Macy’s and other corporate partners in the textile and apparel industry on water stewardship to identify and analyze risk, develop strategies, and implement appropriate solutions for freshwater issues impacting communities and landscapes that their businesses rely upon.
The Market Brand Sustainability Summit convened sustainability leaders across Macy’s brands, as well as other WWF textile partners. Presentations and topics of discussion included a wide range of sustainability issues from vendor standards and compliance, to EPR and recycling, materials, and GHG emissions and climate change. Attendees shared firsthand stories of successes and brainstormed solutions for overcoming challenges in creating and reaching realistic and transparent sustainability goals. Lastly, WWF’s Morgan Schneider, Senior Program Officer, Water Stewardship and US Technical Water Lead for Textiles, gave a presentation on corporate water stewardship to attendees.
Morgan provided key insights into corporate water stewardship - outlining the water stewardship journey from water governance and strategy to contextual target development and vendor engagement, and implementation of actions. She stressed the importance of collaboration across the value chain and between communities, governments, and businesses to influence systemic change.
Among the many ways companies can address water stewardship, Morgan highlighted important actions that include minimizing impacts to nature (i.e. no wetland and land conversion, adopting efficiency practices that decrease pollution and waste), addressing community and business climate resilience, investing in Nature-based solutions, joining collective action programs, and using tools to identify and prioritize risk, such as WWF’s Biodiversity and Water Risk Filters. Also, discussed was the need for greater supply chain transparency and the importance and challenges of data collection and monitoring and evaluation to ensure place-based interventions achieve the intended nature-positive outcomes.
Ultimately, the goals of the summit – to connect with colleagues on sustainability practices, share unique challenges, and gain a deeper understanding of emerging technologies – were met through a robust day of discussion and presentations. Attendees agreed that the future of sustainability, and especially in the case of water stewardship, is bolstered when the larger story of community impact is prioritized over singular achievements.
"The issues we are trying to solve are large and no one company, no matter what their size, large or small can solve them alone.
Our partnership with WWF allows us to work across industries and landscapes, to scale actionable approaches within our supply chain and in the communities where we operate."
- Keelin Evans, VP of Sustainability at Macy’s
Textile and apparel companies have a tremendous opportunity to build meaningful and lasting positive impact on freshwater resources by preserving water across the value chain. But it can’t be done alone; collaboration is imperative when addressing freshwater issues. Collectively, companies, communities, NGOs and government entities can act on water stewardship, leading to increased biodiversity and climate resilience, energy use reductions, improved community livelihoods and resilient freshwater resources. Together, WWF with Macy’s and other textile and apparel brands, continue to work towards a shared vision of positive change for businesses and our planet.