SUSTAINABLE WATER AND ENERGY USAGE


uses digital monitoring to control the cleaning process and end it once cleaning agents have been removed, rather than continuing for a fixed period. While the example is outside


confectionery, the engineering principle is highly transferable. Cleaning is an unavoidable part of food manufacturing; the opportunity lies in understanding when cleaning is genuinely complete and preventing unnecessary water, chemicals and energy from being consumed. GEA’s wider target is for all its solutions


to have a zero-freshwater-use option by 2030, while the company is also targeting a 30% reduction in water-withdrawal intensity across its own operations.


Tackling water upstream Mars provides another perspective by looking at water use in agricultural supply chains. In March 2026, the company published


research into climate risks facing rice farmers, highlighting water scarcity and increasingly unpredictable weather as threats to production. Mars says climate- smart farming techniques such as alternate wetting and drying can reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining or improving yields. The company is investing $20 million


through its Raising Rice Right platform to help farmers adopt climate-smart practices across sourcing regions, with the wider programme running through 2030. “The challenge is no longer to prove that


climate-smart agriculture works,” says Chris Sackree, Global VP Supply, Mars Food & Nutrition. “The real opportunity now lies in creating the economic incentives and market conditions that make farmers want to adopt these practices at scale.” Although the announcement concerns


Mars Food & Nutrition rather than its confectionery business, the principle is directly relevant to chocolate and confectionery supply chains: water efficiency in agriculture depends on adoption at farm level, and adoption depends partly on whether the economics work for producers. This brings the discussion back to the


central issue raised by Bluerisk. Supply- chain water resilience cannot be achieved solely through corporate targets. It requires investment, measurement and practical interventions at the point where water is actually being consumed.


GUMMY PRODUCTION AND INNOVATION


From sustainability target to production KPI The common thread across these examples is a change in the way water and energy are being treated. In 2026, drought, climate volatility and


increasingly constrained water resources are making it an operational consideration — one that can influence where factories are located, how production systems are designed and whether agricultural supply chains remain viable. The situation in England offers a


particularly immediate illustration. Despite rainfall improving conditions towards the end of August, the Environment Agency reported on 4 September that reservoir storage remained at 58%, 19.2% below the seasonal average, with demand still exceeding recharge in several areas. For an industry built around temperature-


sensitive processes, intensive cleaning, cooling, heating and agricultural raw materials, the water-energy relationship is therefore becoming harder to ignore. The next stage is likely to be less about asking “How sustainable is this factory?” and more about asking much more specific questions: How many litres of water does this process require? How much energy does that water demand create? Can wastewater be reused? Can cleaning cycles be shortened? Can heat be recovered? Can agricultural water use be reduced without compromising yields? And, crucially, can the savings be measured against the cost of making the change? For confectionery manufacturers,


those questions turn sustainability into something much more tangible: a matter of plant performance, supply security and competitiveness.


AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2026 • KENNEDY’S CONFECTION • 47


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