PepsiCo has achieved two water-related targets set under its sustainability programme, pep+: fully replenishing the water it uses at company-owned facilities in high water-risk areas, and adopting a globally recognised water stewardship standard across all such sites. Both milestones apply specifically to company-owned manufacturing facilities in watersheds classified as high water-risk. PepsiCo has not disclosed how many facilities fall under this designation.
The first milestone involves what the company describes as 100% water replenishment, meaning that for every litre of water used at high water-risk facilities, an equivalent volume is returned to the local watershed through conservation, wetland restoration, water infrastructure projects or on-farm irrigation improvements. In 2025, more than 60 projects contributed to replenishing nearly 29 billion litres into local watersheds worldwide, spanning sites in Colorado, Türkiye, Egypt, the Dominican Republic and Spain, among others.
In 2025, more than 60 projects contributed to replenishing nearly 29 billion litres into local watersheds worldwide
The second milestone concerns full adoption of the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Standard, a voluntary international framework for businesses to assess and manage their water use. PepsiCo said it joined the alliance in 2018 with a commitment to achieve full adoption at its high-water-risk owned manufacturing sites by the end of 2025. Both milestones have been verified by a third party, though the company did not name the assurance provider.
Roberta Barbieri, PepsiCo's Global Vice President for Sustainability on Climate and Water, acknowledged that further work lies ahead. "The work doesn't stop here," she said, adding, “As we look ahead to 2030, we’ll continue striving toward our ambitions — to be Net Water Positive and to live up to our vision that wherever we operate, water resources are more sustainable and more resilient because of our presence.”
Having retired its 2025 targets, PepsiCo said it would shift focus to a revised set of 2030 commitments, including extending its replenishment goal to franchise bottler manufacturing sites, improving water-use efficiency ratios, and reaching 100 million people with access to safe water. The company said it would report on progress later in 2026.
