Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship

PepsiCo is implementing a water stewardship approach to build resilience against climatic extremes, specifically at its Parow site in Cape Town. The company has achieved a total annual water saving of 147,892 m³ through various site-specific projects, including a R27.9 million investment in advanced batch peeling technology that reduced fresh water usage by 1.06m³/hr and increased annual revenue by R1.4 million. Beyond its facility, PepsiCo aims to be Net Water Positive by 2030 and has invested R29.8 million over five years in the Greater Cape Town Water Fund to restore ecosystems and remove invasive species. Additionally, the PepsiCo Foundation invested R6 million in safe water and sanitation projects across the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, and Limpopo.

• PepsiCo's Parow manufacturing facility implemented ten water-saving projects that collectively conserved 147,892 m³ of water per year. The most significant individual contributors were the commissioning of a borehole reverse osmosis plant (47,000 m³/year) and the replacement of a white starch decanter (30,000 m³/year).
• The installation of advanced batch peeling technology at the Parow plant, costing R27.9 million, provided three primary benefits: an annual fresh water saving of 6,360 m³ (valued at R173,755), an annual revenue increase of R1.4 million due to optimized peeling, and a reduction in annual maintenance costs of R1.7 million.
• PepsiCo has committed to becoming Net Water Positive by 2030, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. As part of this, eleven of its South African production facilities located in high-water-risk areas are adopting the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard.
• At the catchment level, PepsiCo invested R29,886,000 over five years (2018-2022) into the Greater Cape Town Water Fund in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. By the end of 2022, this initiative removed 2,498 ha of invasive species, resulting in an annual water replenishment of 1,776 ML/year.
• The PepsiCo Foundation invested R6 million in four community water and sanitation projects: providing handwashing units and standpipes in Aliwal North (Eastern Cape), improving water access for approximately 3,600 people in Matatiele (Eastern Cape), providing sanitation for 65,000 people in Bloekombos and Wallacedene (Western Cape), and improving sanitation for over 750 people in Ga-Moela (Limpopo).

APA

GreenCape (n.d.). Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Building-resilience-through-water-stewardship.pdf

Chicago

GreenCape. Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship. n.d. https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Building-resilience-through-water-stewardship.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=GreenCape |title=Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship |url=https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Building-resilience-through-water-stewardship.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greencapendbuilding, author = {{GreenCape}}, title = {{Building resilience through green tech investment and water stewardship}}, institution = {GreenCape}, url = {https://greencape.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Building-resilience-through-water-stewardship.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }