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Taking Care of Water: Elevating Our Commitment
In celebration of World Water Day, we’re excited to share with you that GM has plans to reduce water intensity of our operations by 35 per cent by 2035, compared to a 2010 baseline. We also signed the CEO Water Mandate – a UN Global Compact initiative – joining other business leaders in addressing global water challenges. Through this pledge, we are further aligning to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and will map our water progress and achievements against the Mandate’s six core commitment areas.
Water is a precious natural resource and every drop counts. While our operations aren’t overly water-intensive, water stewardship has been a key focus for our company and we’re conscious of how our water use affects local communities, especially those in water-stressed regions. As a result, we have processes in place to ensure that we’re using water responsibly and continue to implement innovative tech that allows us to reuse water as much as possible. For example:
- Pre-Treatment System: The CAMI Assembly Plant has implemented a pre-treatment system, so it only supplies fresh water while vehicles are being processed for water seals and coatings. By stopping the flow of water when there are gaps in production has saved over 30,000 cubic meters of water per year.
- Canal Water Project: St. Catharines Propulsion Plant has used the Welland canal water to help cool the plant. This project allows water to flow in using only its potential energy to pass through a heat exchanger and remove the heat from a chilled water loop. The water is then returned directly to the canal. The project saves water by reducing the need for cooling towers, which helps decrease evaporative losses.
Reducing our overall environmental impact across our operations will help us create a more sustainable future for our people, our communities and our environment.
Interested in learning more about GM’s sustainability efforts? Join the Global Sustainability Yammer group here.