2021 Owens Corning Sustainability Report | Reducing Our Environmental Footprint | Responsible Water | 170 Stakeholder Engagement Stakeholder engagement is critical to mitigating any future conflicts, and we work to establish positive relationships with the communities where we operate. We proactively engage with local stakeholders on an as-needed basis, including when we build, expand, or update our facilities. By working with stakeholders at all levels — including local levels —we can continually optimize water usage and reduce consumption and waste. For example, Owens Corning maintains bioswales that were built on the grounds of our facility in Portland, Oregon, U.S. These bioswales concentrate and direct stormwater runoff while removing debris and pollution. In addition, they create habitats for wildlife and prevent puddles that attract mosquitos. While Owens Corning currently oversees the maintenance of the bioswales, the project began as a partnership with the city of Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services as part of efforts to manage stormwater sustainably. Beyond the local level, Owens Corning is a partner in the Department of Energy’s Better Plants Challenge, through which we have pledged to improve our water withdrawal intensity by 15% in our U.S. operations by 2030, using 2018 as our base year. The Challenge requires an additional commitment from partners to share corporate data, solutions, and successes to help guide other industrial companies. Water Recycling and Recirculation These terms are defined as follows: ■ Recirculated water refers to water that is used in a closed-loop system in the production of prime product. This water only exits the recirculating system when it evaporates or when the recirculating system is flushed or cleaned. ■ Recycled water refers to water that is used in the production of prime product and is then pulled out of a specific production process area, mechanically and/or chemically treated, then returned to the same process or used in a different area (either production-related or nonproduction-related). At the site level, we track water withdrawal, water use, water discharge, and recycled and recirculated water monthly. Most of our withdrawal data come from invoices and meter readings, which are supplemented by calculations based on process knowledge and production levels. All sites are required to follow our detailed water governance documentation to ensure standardization and accuracy. We have taken steps to increase the recirculation and recycling of water at our plants, which decreases intake, treatment, and discharge costs. In several Composites manufacturing facilities, for example, process water is recycled and used for cooling towers and landscaping purposes. Since 2018, we have increased water recirculation percentages in our insulation facilities where processes support using recirculated water. As a result, we have seen a significant decrease in water withdrawal, despite increasing production in these facilities, which reduces our footprint in the communities where we operate while also benefiting the company financially. Water-Stressed Areas and Context-Based Targets Owens Corning leverages the World Resource Institute (WRI) Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas to screen our sites for extremely high and high baseline water supply stress, 2030 and 2040 projections for water supply stress changes, and frequency of drought, as well as upstream water quality and other metrics. We combine the tool with internal knowledge in our facilities located in water-stressed areas. The WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas provides us with a framework to develop our targets and measure our progress. Looking at the 13 indicators they have established, we asked the following questions: ■ Which of these indicators could have a direct impact on our ability to withdraw water? ■ Which of these indicators could our water withdrawal directly impact? ■ For which of these indicators would decreasing our water withdrawal by 50% directly matter? Based on those questions, we selected seven indicators that have the highest relevance to our operations. The following three indicators are significantly relevant and are emphasized in our internal evaluation and scoring of our facilities. ■ Baseline Water Stress This indicator compares the water withdrawn to the water available in a given sub-basin. Each sub-basin is part of a larger basin that drains into an ocean or lake at a single point. Because water demand is usually local, the WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas measures water withdrawal at the sub-basin level, and the tool’s main selection criterion is the average distance from supply to destination. This indicator also measures competition among users. ■ Baseline Water Depletion Although similar to baseline water stress, which considers total withdrawals, baseline water depletion is calculated based only on the amount of water consumption. In alignment with WRI Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas definitions, we define consumption as water that does not return to the basin. We measure our consumption to track the ways our water withdrawal impacts local water supply and decreases water availability for downstream users. ■ Drought Risk In addition to measuring the probability that drought will occur, this indicator considers the magnitude of the impact based on the exposure and vulnerability of the affected population and assets.