Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) is taking steps to maintain its legacy for water stewardship.
On Thursday, company released “2030 Water Strategy – Beyond the Blue,” a new roadmap to reduce water use, improve water quality, and help suppliers and communities become more resilient to climate change.
The updated strategy revises the 2019 goal of reducing freshwater use in manufacturing by 50 percent in areas of high-water stress by 2025. Although notable progress has been made through suppliers’ adoption of wastewater recycling practices, LS&Co. reports that it has not yet met the target, achieving a 27 percent reduction in freshwater use as of 2024.
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Under the new strategy, LS&Co. aims to reduce absolute freshwater use by 15 percent across its tier 1 and 2 apparel and textile manufacturing suppliers by 2030, compared to a 2022 base year, and ensure 40 percent of water used in manufacturing is recycled or reused. LS&Co. will prioritize a small number of suppliers with the greater reduction potential to yield more significant progress toward its target.
To help suppliers achieve the 15 percent reduction, LS&Co. will focus on reducing water usage through measures such as equipment retrofits (for example, UP systems and eFlow), replacements, and process optimization to decrease total water consumption. “Our models have indicated that these efficiency initiatives offer a strong return on investment and could reduce water use per machine by an average of 32 percent,” LS&Co. stated.
Additionally, the company will invest in conducting energy and water assessments at nominated fabric mills, contribute to the development of facility-level investment plans and will continue to explore financial mechanisms to help suppliers implement higher-capital investment projects that can deliver substantial water savings.
The new strategy connects water goals to the denim giant’s 2024 Climate Action Transition Plan, which aligns the company’ business plans with its climate commitments. The targets follow global frameworks, including the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN) and the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD).
As one of the strategy’s three pillars, LS&Co. will use science-based insights to improve its performance and deepen its understanding of the impacts and dependencies on water and nature. This work will inform how and where the company prioritizes actions in the areas of high-water stress to address the water impact of manufacturing and raw material usage.
A footprint assessment conducted this year estimated that producing LS&Co. garments across tiers 1 through 4 requires approximately 250 billion liters of freshwater annually. The assessment also found that around 70 percent of the company’s total freshwater impact stems from cotton cultivation for LS&Co. products, primarily sourced from water-stressed basins.
“We know climate change is the existential challenge of our time—and water is where many of its impacts are felt most acutely,” said Michelle Gass, president and CEO of LS&Co. “Our 2030 Water Strategy outlines how we’ll continue to lead on water stewardship, not just by reducing our own impact, but by helping build resilience in the places that need it most.”
The new roadmap will also focus on maintaining water conversation efforts. LS&Co. will publish an open-source industry guide on water recycling and reuse and will support suppliers with training and tools to strengthen their water resilience. Watershed restoration projects in areas of high-water stress are planned for the Sutlej and Indus basins in Pakistan and the Meghna basin in Bangladesh. Among the 11 basins, these were identified for highest impact reduction potential.
Additionally, LS&Co will expand water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects, including its participation in WaterAid’s Women + Water Collaborative in India, which aims to reach 150,000 people with access to clean water in its first two years.
“This strategy is about more than water savings—it’s about resilience and supporting business continuity for the long-term,” said Jeffrey Hogue, LS&Co. chief sustainability officer. “We’re working to ensure that our supply chain and the people within it are equipped to adapt to some of the most acute impacts of climate change.”
LS&Co. said it will report annually on progress toward its 2030 water goals.
