Koç Holding shared its 2040 water commitment with the public within the scope of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP31), of which it is a Global Business Partner.
The panel moderated by Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, Honorary President of the Club of Rome, included Koç Holding CEO Levent Çakıroğlu, World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Industries Team President Francisco Betti, Water Resilience Coalition (WRC) CEO Matthew Kistler, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Climate Strategy and Implementation General Manager Gianpiero Nacci, and Microsoft International Global Relations Senior Regional Director Pier Luigi Dal Pino.
The panel discussed turning water targets into concrete practices, disseminating successful solutions and financing water resilience investments.
"Water will be as decisive as energy in terms of long-term competition"
Stating that water is increasingly shaping production and investment decisions for the business world, Koç Holding CEO Levent Çakıroğlu said, "In the face of increasing demand, agriculture, cities and industry, which share the same limited water resources, are facing increasing pressure. Therefore, water shapes not only where companies will produce and invest today, but also how they will grow in the future. As Koç Group, we predict that water will be at least as decisive as energy in terms of long-term competition in our second century."
"Our goal is a strategic decision that includes our long-term growth."
Announcing his goal for responsible management of water resources, Çakıroğlu said, "We aim to reduce the freshwater withdrawal in our operations by 85 percent by 2040, compared to the base year of 2025. This means reducing the total amount of freshwater we draw even as our businesses grow. Our target includes our industrial facilities in the energy, automotive and durable consumer sectors, which make up 96 percent of our freshwater footprint. We see this commitment as a part of our growth strategy. Because it tells us where and how to invest, how we operate our operations and facilities. "It shows how we will design or redesign and how we will make our capacity decisions. It also gives a clear signal to investors, our business partners and the wider industry community about where we are heading. As Koç Holding, we have set out a vision, a claim and common goals. Each of our companies has set its own goals by working on its own challenges and solutions."
"We will focus on turning goals into action"
Çakıroğlu stated that they have reduced freshwater withdrawals by 17 percent in the last three years and summarized the areas they will focus on to turn their ambitious targets on water into practice as follows: "First of all, we will increase water efficiency in our activities. We will accelerate this transformation by developing better forecasts and more effective decision-making processes with the power of technology and innovation. In addition, taking into account that more than 70 percent of the freshwater withdrawal in our country comes from agriculture, we will take steps together with our stakeholders in our value chain, beyond our activities."
Stating that Koç Group's most important climate-related physical risk is water, Çakıroğlu said that no stakeholder can secure the future of water alone. Through global platforms and coalitions to protect water resources; Underlining the need to work together with states, companies and stakeholders, Çakıroğlu also announced that Koç Holding has joined the Water Resilience Coalition, which brings together leading companies for the sustainability of water resources. Koç Holding has been supporting the CEO Water Mandate initiative of the United Nations Global Compact since 2022 and taking part in the Water Futures initiative of the World Economic Forum.
Private dive into commitment from Şahika Ercümen
