The theme of 2017 World Water Day – waste water – is closely linked to UN Sustainable Development Goal n° 6 that aims to improve water quality and reduce, treat and reuse waste water. Water is a vital resource in optics production to ensure the quality of lenses at every manufacturing step.

Since the launch of its Reboost program in 2013, Essilor has put water and energy consumption at the heart of Group efforts to map use, define standards and targets as well as speed improvements in efficiency. Operational teams strive to measure, reduce, reuse and recycle at every stage of water use, from pre-treatment to post-treatment throughout our manufacturing processes.

Group mass production sites have achieved significant success in water reduction following decades of efforts – saving over 9.1 millions of m3 since 2007, the equivalent of 5.5 years of use. Now each facility will establish its own water roadmap to identify further water efficiencies to implement, such as developing closed-loop water systems in production processes to be independent of external water supplies. Another recent water savings project has mobilized specialists from operations, engineering, quality, EHS at production and prescription lab facilities worldwide to test different solutions in hard coating lines to demonstrate how the Group can reduce water consumption by a further 20%.

Essilor participates in CDP, an international, independent non-profit organization that assesses companies’ efforts to measure and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and water footprint. In 2016, the CDP recognized Essilor’s ongoing progress in these areas, rating it B for carbon footprint management and A- for efficient water use.