Ecolab Releases 2015 Corporate Sustainability Report

Highlights commitment to solutions that enable companies to do more
with less

ST. PAUL, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Ecolab Inc., the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies
and services, today released its 2015 Corporate Sustainability Report.
This detailed report profiles the company’s commitment to
sustainability, including the significant sustainability accomplishments
achieved for customers through Ecolab’s science and service expertise.

“Many companies throughout the world are redesigning their operations
and business models to do more with less,” said Emilio Tenuta, Ecolab
vice president of Corporate Sustainability. “This is increasingly
important as global macro trends clearly show that the fast-growing,
increasingly urban, increasingly affluent global population is putting
more pressure on our world’s limited resources. Ecolab is helping to
reduce this pressure by improving sustainability within our own
operations and at more than one million customer locations around the
world.”

Ecolab’s 2015 Corporate Sustainability Report highlights examples of how
the company is helping businesses across industries re-imagine how they
operate to be successful – and sustainable – in a future with greater
demand on the world’s finite resources. In 2015, Ecolab solutions helped
customers collectively conserve 142 billion gallons of water, eliminate
26.4 million pounds of waste and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
by 10.5 trillion BTU’s of energy. By 2030, Ecolab aims to conserve 300
billion gallons of water annually by reducing water consumption in both
the company’s and its customers’ operations.

Ecolab also announced bolder environmental performance goals. Ecolab has
set a goal to reduce water usage by 25 percent and GHG emissions by 10
percent across all manufacturing plants, by 2020, against a 2015
baseline. To achieve these goals, Ecolab has expanded its Create &
Maintain Value (CMV) program, a continuous improvement process to reduce
water and energy use, throughout its manufacturing facilities. Ecolab
will leverage its in-house water management expertise, its unique
auditing and monitoring capabilities, and customized solutions to
deliver substantial reductions in water and energy consumption.

For companies around the world, water scarcity is becoming more than a
hypothetical risk – it is a constraint to growth. In 2014, Ecolab
partnered with Trucost, the natural capital experts, to launch the Water
Risk Monetizer, a first-of-its-kind tool to help all water users more
clearly understand and quantify water-related business risks. In 2015,
the tool was enhanced to enable businesses to evaluate potential revenue
at risk due to water scarcity. More than 2,000 unique users have tapped
into this free tool to assess their water risks. The report provides
more background on this tool.

The report highlights several sustainability achievements within
Ecolab’s operations. Ecolab’s manufacturing plant in Taicang, China,
became the first site in the world to receive the International Water
Stewardship Standard certification from the Alliance for Water
Stewardship (AWS). The plant, which operates in the water-sensitive
Yangtze River region outside Shanghai, the largest city in China, was
recognized for its adoption of conservation methods which reduced both
incoming and outgoing water by 2,315 cubic meters in one year.

In 2015, Ecolab was recognized numerous times for its sustainability
leadership. The company was named to CR Magazine’s 100 Best Corporate
Citizens, Newsweek’s Green Rankings and Ethisphere Institute’s list of
the World’s Most Ethical Companies. In addition, the Human Rights
Campaign named Ecolab one of the “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality”
and the Military Times named Ecolab a “Best for Vets Employer.”

Ecolab’s 2015 Corporate Sustainability Report was developed in alignment
with the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) G4 guidelines. The report
summary and complete GRI G4 Index are available at http://www.Ecolab.com/Sustainability.

About Ecolab
A trusted partner at more than one million
customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the global leader in water, hygiene
and energy technologies and services that protect people and vital
resources. With 2015 sales of $13.5 billion and 47,000 associates,
Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions and on-site service to promote
safe food, maintain clean environments, optimize water and energy use,
and improve operational efficiencies for customers in the food,
healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial markets in more than 170
countries around the world.

For more Ecolab news and information, visit www.ecolab.com.
Follow us on Twitter @ecolab
or Facebook at facebook.com/ecolab.

(ECL-C)

Contacts

Ecolab Inc.
Roman Blahoski, 651-250-4385
MediaRelations@Ecolab.com