A semiconductor company's examination of its water footprint approach

Rapid growth in demand for electricity production, agricultural commodities and industrial uses are depleting the world's freshwater supply either in terms of quantity or quality, a problem exacerbated by climate change's influence on freshwater supply. With demand and stress still rapidly increasing, it is already estimated that there are two billion people without proper sanitation systems and approximately one billion people lacking access to safe drinking water. Water footprinting and related impact assessment tools are being developed to provide a quantitative and scientific measurement system for use in managing freshwater impact. The demand for business transparency, along with operational, regulatory and business image risks, is driving multinational companies towards more holistic assessments of their water footprint and associated impact. By developing a water use inventory a company can quantify the freshwater required or associated with a particular product or process. By applying impact assessments, a company can better understand if the water uses in that inventory are likely to cause stress on human welfare, impact environmental quality, or create a reputational or financial risk. Water assessment tools ultimately can help a company determine which project, product, process or even choice of facility location is the best decision, and develop programmatic changes to reduce the impact of their freshwater footprint. This paper presents an update to Intel Corporation's (Intel's) first water footprint assessment and was developed in partnership with Quantis International, a third-party life cycle assessment company. Whereas the original assessment included facility water use and some aspects of supply chain, this paper expands on facility and supply chain water use, the influence of renewable energy credits (RECs) on water footprinting, and the water impact of the consumer use phase of Intel's products. The paper also discusses the process used in making these enhanced assessments and their implications in comparison with Intel's original water assessment.