CHINA: The first stakeholder forum for water stewardship
A stakeholder movement that came to life in Wuxi in 2015 was the Taihu International Forum, bringing together business, NGOs, civil society and policy makers into the same room.
Between 2014-2020, the partnership engaged in river basin work in the Taihu area in China. The work targeted suppliers, policy makers, local communities and brands – ranging from supplier trainings and scalable industry park programs, to initiating meeting forums where joint water challenges could be addressed.
The Taihu Basin is home to a significant part of China’s manufacturing, including 37 percent of textile production. The intense industry has negative impact on the water resources, with agricultural runoff and wastewater discharge from textile factories polluting the water.
The Taihu basin is one of WWF’s priority areas and for the past ten years, WWF China has been working to find ways to take pressure off the basin. In 2014, H&M Group, through the partnership, was the first global fashion brand to join WWF’s water stewardship program in the Taihu basin. Here, the company supported efforts to raise awareness around water issues and engaged suppliers, brands and policy makers on water stewardship.
During this time, more than five hundred suppliers and industrial parks took part in water stewardship trainings, policy makers actively engaged in water issues and brands such as HSBC, Tommy Hilfiger and Tchibo joined collective action in China. In addition to corporate stewardship actions, government has taken measures to improve water quality in the Taihu Lake – with good results. In recent years, the water quality of Taihu Basin has gradually improved.
The water stewardship measures taken then are today cornerstones of “the Taihu model”, a model that now is scaled up and used in other areas with textile industry clusters present.
Read more about the different elements of the model below.
CHINA: Supplier and industrial park trainings
Water stewardship trainings for suppliers and industrial parks have been held from 2017, covering areas such as local water status and industry impacts, policy development, techniques on wastewater treatment and water standards. The programs have also included visits to factories to showcase water best practice.
CHINA: Scaling a sustainable model for industrial parks
In 2014, the WWF H&M Group partnership was part of launching the first Water Stewardship Industrial Park project in Taihu. More than twenty textile mills collaborated to improve water management. Four years later, the model was replicated in another park and today, learnings are integrated in industrial park trainings.
In the first Water Stewardship Industrial Park project in Taihu 2014, more than twenty textile printing and dyeing mills at Xixiashu Industrial park cooperated to improve water management. A pilote site within the park participated in water stewardship trainings and invested in clean tech for water efficiency and wastewater treatment.
In just one year, the pilot site could see cost reductions, less COD* discharge, less resources used and increased awareness among staff. A “club” for all printing and dyeing mills in the park was started where they could share experiences and best practice.
“Our understanding about how to protect water resources has increased substantially since we joined WWF’s Water Stewardship program. As water stewardship pioneers, we are happy to share our experiences with others”, said Lingyong, owner of the pilot site Weile Dyeing.
Song Lingyong (to the right) runs Weile Dyeing together with his brother.
As the model reaches many sites at the same time, effects can be scaled quicker. Estimations show that if all facilities in the Xixiashu Park would do similar measures as the pilot site, COD discharge of the whole park would decrease with 23 tons every year, taking some pressure off surrounding basins.
The partnership developed an Industrial Park Guideline for Water Stewardship, based on industrial expertise and the learning outcomes achieved in the project. The guidelines were applied by industrial park managers and have been integrated in the training programs of the Green Development League of National Economic and Technological Development Zones (GDL NETDZ).
In 2018, the model was replicated to another industrial park in the area – the Shengze IP with around 30 textile printing and dyeing factories and more than 2000 textile factories. Here, five pilot sites participated in water stewardship trainings and have invested in cleaner technology, leading to further significant results: the five pilot sites reduced their COD with 38.09 tons in just one year, accounting for around 3 percent of the park’s annual COD discharge.
“Under the guidance of experts from the WWF Water Stewardship Shengze IP pilot project, we have improved processes from four aspects; pollution control, energy saving, equipment and management. Through the project, our managers have deepened their knowledge on sustainability and thereby improved the site’s concept for sustainability development”, said a manager in one of the pilot sites in Shengze IP.
Next steps will now be to take the learnings from the industrial park program and share with participants during future industrial park trainings.
*COD is a measure of water and wastewater quality
