Project Details

Sustainable use of water resources- improving industrial water governance and harmonization with global industry initiatives and communication

In its role as secretariat for the Sweden Textile Water Initiative (STWI), the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) has been driving collaborative programmes to improve sustainable water use in production processes at the supplier and sub-supplier levels. Between 2015 and 2017, SIWI is continuing to scale up its current operations to Bangladesh, Ethiopia, China, India, and Turkey to build a global network of textile and leather manufacturers who continuously work to improve their environmental impact.

STWI is a programme co-financed by the STWI brands, the Production Companies, and the Swedish government through the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). In the past 5 years, SIWI has worked in Bangladesh, China, India, Ethiopia and Turkey to build the capacity of more than 350 suppliers and sub-suppliers to over 30 Nordic textile and leather brands. Between 2019 and 2020, SIWI is continuing its current operations to build a global network of textile and leather manufacturers who strive to improve their sustainability performance and to minimize their environmental impact.

To that extent, SIWI works with Swedish brands, and Local Expert teams “Local Partners” in each country to manage the national Production Unit programme as part of the Global STWI Projects to:

a) Continuously build the capacities of management and workers of production companies on improving the efficiency of water, energy and chemical use systematically in their suppliers’ manufacturing processes to achieve pre-set, annual quantitative and qualitative targets.

b) Continue to provide support to Production Units to implement recommended projects to achieve these targets at the factory level throughout the year.

c) Continue to build out a network of Production Units that work continuously towards sustainable water use in production and water risk mitigation, creating cost-efficiency through scale and collaboration.