Environmental Group Says Few Companies Meet Water Use Targets

Environmental Group Says Few Companies Meet Water Use Targets

环境组织说，很少有公司达到用水目标

【原文听力】

　　By Dan Novak

　　02 November 2023

　　Major corporations in industries that produce clothing, food, drinks and technology services use a lot of water.

　　However, many companies say they want to be more responsible about the freshwater they use. Drought, floods and extreme weather also threaten their supply chains.

　　The nonprofit environmental group Ceres ranked 72 companies for their sustainability efforts. Ceres said few of the businesses are close to reaching the 2030 goals set by the group, which is based in Boston, Massachusetts.

　　Last year, Ceres launched an effort to push companies with large water usage to protect water resources. Recently, the group released a study that included the corporations Coca-Cola, General Mills and Amazon.

　　"There's no doubt that companies need to do better," said Kirsten James. She is a program director for water at Ceres.

　　Ceres said the companies were chosen from four industries based on their size and use of water. They were ranked based on several factors, including promises to protect the amount and quality of the water they use, as well as the environments that supply it. They were also tested on whether they helped improve access to water and sanitation in communities where they do business. Ceres used publicly available information, including information the companies provided to the government through March.

　　None of the companies scored above 70 percent of the points available. Some were considered to be on track to meet the goals set by the nonprofit group, with scores of at least 50 percent.

　　Coca-Cola said its water use in 2022 was 10 percent more efficient compared to 2015. The company said it hopes to have 100 percent circular water use. That is where all water is used and returned to the watersheds it has been drawn from.

　　But the company did not say how likely it was to reach that target, nor how much progress it has made. Coca-Cola also said producing its products does not use as much water as growing what goes into the products it sells.

　　"The agricultural ingredients that we use use vastly more water to produce than the actual manufacturing process," said Michael Goltzman. He is vice president of Coca Cola and a sustainability head.

　　Reports say technology companies, like Amazon and Apple, use a lot of water to cool the computers in their large data centers. The Ceres study rated both companies below 20 percent progress toward the nonprofit's targets.

　　Food company General Mills was among the companies closest to meeting the 2030 targets, at 65 percent.

　　Mary Jane Melendez is the company's chief sustainability officer. She said 85 percent of the company's water use is in agriculture. Extreme weather in the U.S. has reportedly affected the company in recent years.

　　Melendez gave examples of weather-related problems. She said freezing and thawing hurt the company's supply of sugar beets. She also said drought affected its oats supply.

　　Michael Kiparsky is director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. He said that corporations have an interest in protecting their operations from water shortages. That could push them to make bigger steps to protect freshwater resources.

　　Kiparsky pointed out there is no way to enforce Ceres' targets. But he asked, "Does money talk? When it talks, it talks pretty loud," he said.

　　I'm Dan Novak.

　　Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by The Associated Press.

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　　丹·诺瓦克

　　2023年11月2日

　　生产服装、食品、饮料和技术服务行业的大公司消耗大量的水。

　　然而，许多公司表示，他们希望对自己使用的淡水更加负责。干旱洪水和极端天气也威胁着他们的供应链。

　　非营利环保组织Ceres对72家公司进行了排名可持续性努力。Ceres表示，很少有企业接近实现该集团设定的2030年目标，该集团总部位于马萨诸塞州波士顿。

　　去年，Ceres发起了一项努力，推动用水量大的公司保护水资源。最近，该组织发布了一项包括可口可乐、通用磨坊和亚马逊在内的研究。

　　“毫无疑问，公司需要做得更好，”克里斯汀·詹姆斯说。她是谷神星水项目的主管。

　　Ceres表示，这些公司是根据规模和用水量从四个行业中挑选出来的。他们的排名基于几个方面因素，包括承诺保护他们使用的水的数量和质量，以及供水环境。他们也被测试是否有助于改善接近到水和卫生设备在他们做生意的社区里。Ceres使用公开可用的信息，包括公司在3月份向政府提供的信息。

　　没有一家公司得分超过70%。一些人被认为有望达到非营利组织设定的目标，得分至少为50%。

　　可口可乐表示，2022年其用水量将增加10%高效的相比2015年。该公司表示，希望实现100%的循环用水。这是所有水被使用并返回到分水岭它是从。

　　但该公司没有说明实现这一目标的可能性有多大，也没有说明已经取得了多大进展。可口可乐还表示，生产其产品并不像销售的产品那样消耗大量的水。

　　“我们使用的农业原料极大地比实际生产过程产生更多的水。他是可口可乐的副总裁和可持续发展负责人。

　　报道称，像亚马逊和苹果这样的科技公司使用大量的水来冷却他们大型数据中心的电脑。Ceres的研究认为两家公司在实现非营利目标方面的进展都低于20%。

　　食品公司通用磨坊是最接近实现2030年目标的公司之一，达到65%。

　　玛丽·简·梅伦德斯是该公司的首席可持续发展官。她说，该公司85%的用水用于农业。据报道，近年来美国的极端天气影响了该公司。

　　梅伦德斯举例说明了与天气有关的问题。她说冻僵了融化损害了公司的甜菜供应。她还说干旱影响了燕麦的供应。

　　迈克尔·基帕斯基是加州大学伯克利分校惠勒水研究所的主任。他说，企业有兴趣保护他们的业务免受水资源短缺的影响。这可能会促使他们采取更大的措施来保护淡水资源。

　　Kiparsky指出，没有办法执行Ceres的目标。但他问:“钱会说话吗？它说话的时候，声音很大，”他说。

　　我是丹·诺瓦克。

　　丹·诺瓦克根据美联社的报道改编了这个故事。

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　　这个故事中的词语

　　drought — n. 比正常时期少得多的一段时间

　　sustainability — n.继续使用资源而不耗尽它的能力

　　factor –n. 产生结果的事物

　　access — n.获得或使用某物的能力

　　sanitation — n. 在一个地方处理废物和废水所需的设备和结构

　　efficient — adj.使用适量的资源，但不要使用太多

　　watershed — n.由一个大的河流系统排水的陆地区域

　　vast — adj. 非常大或宽

　　thaw — v. 当冰或冻结的东西恢复到较高的温度并融化时