IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v7y2015i6p6742-6758d50264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Business Engagement with Sustainable Water Resource Management through Water Footprint Accounting: The Case of the Barilla Company

Author

Listed:
  • Marta Antonelli

    (Department of Economics, Roma Tre University, Via Silvio D'Amico 77, 00145 Rome, Italy)

  • Luca Fernando Ruini

    (Barilla G&R Fratelli SPA, via Mantova 166, 43122 Parma, Italy)

Abstract

This study investigates business engagement in sustainable water management, focusing on water footprint accounting as a tool to account for water use in food supply chains. An explorative analysis is conducted on the Barilla Company. The study explores two corporate strategies aimed at achieving more sustainable water use: the adoption of environmental products declarations (EPDs), a reporting system that accounts for the environmental footprints of Barilla’s pasta and other products; and the implementation of the Aureo Wheat Programme. The study deployed both primary and secondary data. The study shows that the largest share of the water footprint of pasta relates to the cultivation phase (over 90%), which is almost fully rainfed. EPDs show that the water footprint of the other phases of the supply chain is negligible. It is argued that the use of water footprinting in EPDs can raise awareness about water use in agricultural supply chains to reach a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including consumers. The study also shows that the implementation of the Aureo Wheat Programme, consisting of a shift in cultivation site and in the type of wheat, enabled a reduction in the blue water footprint of pasta, with water savings amounting to 35 million m 3 of blue water since 2011.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Antonelli & Luca Fernando Ruini, 2015. "Business Engagement with Sustainable Water Resource Management through Water Footprint Accounting: The Case of the Barilla Company," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-17, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:6:p:6742-6758:d:50264
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/6/6742/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/6/6742/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bradley G. Ridoutt & Stephan Pfister, 2013. "Towards an Integrated Family of Footprint Indicators," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 17(3), pages 337-339, June.
    2. M. Mekonnen & A. Hoekstra & R. Becht, 2012. "Mitigating the Water Footprint of Export Cut Flowers from the Lake Naivasha Basin, Kenya," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(13), pages 3725-3742, October.
    3. Aldaya, M.M. & Hoekstra, A.Y., 2010. "The water needed for Italians to eat pasta and pizza," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(6), pages 351-360, July.
    4. Maite Aldaya & Pedro Martínez-Santos & M. Llamas, 2010. "Incorporating the Water Footprint and Virtual Water into Policy: Reflections from the Mancha Occidental Region, Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(5), pages 941-958, March.
    5. Aldaya, M.M. & Allan, J.A. & Hoekstra, A.Y., 2010. "Strategic importance of green water in international crop trade," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 887-894, February.
    6. Bradley G. Ridoutt & Peerasak Sanguansri & Gregory S. Harper, 2011. "Comparing Carbon and Water Footprints for Beef Cattle Production in Southern Australia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(12), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Dennis Wichelns, 2011. "Do the Virtual Water and Water Footprint Perspectives Enhance Policy Discussions?," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 633-645.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lu Zhang & Xiaochao Guo & Zhimei Lei & Ming K. Lim, 2019. "Social Network Analysis of Sustainable Human Resource Management from the Employee Training’s Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-20, January.
    2. Marcello Stanco & Concetta Nazzaro & Marco Lerro & Giuseppe Marotta, 2020. "Sustainable Collective Innovation in the Agri-Food Value Chain: The Case of the “Aureo” Wheat Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Benedetta Esposito & Maria Rosaria Sessa & Daniela Sica & Ornella Malandrino, 2020. "Towards Circular Economy in the Agri-Food Sector. A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Chini, Christopher M. & Stillwell, Ashlynn S., 2020. "The changing virtual water trade network of the European electric grid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    5. Rosa Micale & Antonio Giallanza & Giuseppe Russo & Giada La Scalia, 2017. "Selection of a Sustainable Functional Pasta Enriched with Opuntia Using ELECTRE III Methodology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-14, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. María Jesús Beltrán & Esther Velázquez, 2011. "Del metabolismo social al metabolismo hídrico," Documentos de Trabajo de la Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España 01_2011, Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España.
    2. Maria J. Beltrán & Esther Velázquez, 2015. "The Political Ecology of Virtual Water in Southern Spain," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1020-1036, September.
    3. Ignacio Cazcarro & Rosa Duarte & Miguel Martín-Retortillo & Vicente Pinilla & Ana Serrano, 2015. "How Sustainable is the Increase in the Water Footprint of the Spanish Agricultural Sector? A Provincial Analysis between 1955 and 2005–2010," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-26, April.
    4. Lowe, Benjamin H. & Oglethorpe, David R. & Choudhary, Sonal, 2020. "Comparing the economic value of virtual water with volumetric and stress-weighted approaches: A case for the tea supply chain," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    5. Yu Zhang & Qing Tian & Huan Hu & Miao Yu, 2019. "Water Footprint of Food Consumption by Chinese Residents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-15, October.
    6. Ababaei, Behnam & Ramezani Etedali, Hadi, 2017. "Water footprint assessment of main cereals in Iran," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 401-411.
    7. Ángel De Miguel & Malaak Kallache & Eloy García-Calvo, 2015. "The Water Footprint of Agriculture in Duero River Basin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-22, May.
    8. Yue Zhang & Kai Huang & Yajuan Yu & Tingting Hu & Jing Wei, 2015. "Impact of climate change and drought regime on water footprint of crop production: the case of Lake Dianchi Basin, China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 79(1), pages 549-566, October.
    9. Hamidreza Manshadi & Mohammad Niksokhan & Mojtaba Ardestani, 2015. "A Quantity-Quality Model for Inter-basin Water Transfer System Using Game Theoretic and Virtual Water Approaches," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(13), pages 4573-4588, October.
    10. Gutiérrez-Gómez, Celia & Carrillo-Avila, Eugenio & Landeros-Sánchez, Cesáreo & Coh-Méndez, Domingo & Monsalvo-Espinosa, Avelardo & Arreola-Enríquez, Jesús & Pimentel-López, José, 2018. "Soil moisture tension as an alternative for improving sustainable use of irrigation water for habanero chilies (Capsicum chinense Jacq.)," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 28-37.
    11. Beltrán, María J. & Kallis, Giorgos, 2018. "How Does Virtual Water Flow in Palestine? A Political Ecology Analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 17-26.
    12. Guangyao Deng & Liujuan Wang & Yanan Song, 2015. "Effect of Variation of Water-Use Efficiency on Structure of Virtual Water Trade - Analysis Based on Input–Output Model," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(8), pages 2947-2965, June.
    13. Rui Zhao & Hualing He & Ning Zhang, 2015. "Regional Water Footprint Assessment: A Case Study of Leshan City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(12), pages 1-16, December.
    14. Vogel, Everton & Martinelli, Gabrielli & Artuzo, Felipe Dalzotto, 2021. "Environmental and economic performance of paddy field-based crop-livestock systems in Southern Brazil," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    15. Pardo, J.J. & Martínez-Romero, A. & Léllis, B.C. & Tarjuelo, J.M. & Domínguez, A., 2020. "Effect of the optimized regulated deficit irrigation methodology on water use in barley under semiarid conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    16. Arjen Y. Hoekstra, 2017. "Water Footprint Assessment: Evolvement of a New Research Field," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3061-3081, August.
    17. Santangelo, Grazia D., 2018. "The impact of FDI in land in agriculture in developing countries on host country food security," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 75-84.
    18. Peng Zhang & Zihan Xu & Weiguo Fan & Jiahui Ren & Ranran Liu & Xiaobin Dong, 2019. "Structure Dynamics and Risk Assessment of Water-Energy-Food Nexus: A Water Footprint Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-18, February.
    19. Zecca, Francesco & D’Errico, Marco, 2021. "Food security and land use: The Ethiopian case," Economia agro-alimentare / Food Economy, Italian Society of Agri-food Economics/Società Italiana di Economia Agro-Alimentare (SIEA), vol. 23(2), July.
    20. White, Robin R. & Brady, Michael & Capper, Judith L. & Johnson, Kristen A., 2014. "Optimizing diet and pasture management to improve sustainability of U.S. beef production," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 1-12.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:6:p:6742-6758:d:50264. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.