Claus Conzelmann

Claus  Conzelmann  has  been  driving  the  Nestlé  Group’s  performance  in  environmental  sustainability  and workplace  health  &  safety  since  2004.  His  major  focus  areas  have  been  the  significant  reduction  of  work-related accidents, leveraging Nestlé employees as ambassadors for the Group’s nutrition, health and wellness strategy and integrating environmental considerations, especially water conservation and governance, into all
aspects of the business, from product development, sourcing, manufacturing to marketing.  
Since 1991 with Nestlé, Claus held various  strategic and operational positions in Switzerland, Germany  and Australia, incl. regulatory affairs, biotechnology policy, factory management, and operations improvement.  
Claus holds a Ph.D in molecular biology from Manchester University in the UK. He was previously Business Development  Manager  with  Ciba-Geigy  Agro  (now  Syngenta)  and  worked  for  several  years  as  science journalist in Germany and the UK.
Nestlé is the world’s largest food, nutrition, health and wellness company with sales in excess of $ 80 billion and some 500 manufacturing sites in over 80 countries.

Creating Shared Value - The Food Industry's Commitment to Sustainable Water Use

For companies with a long-term perspective, economic development and environmental sustainability are no longer conflicting goals but two sides of the same coin. As groundwater tables are dropping at a frightening rate in many agricultural areas, food companies see the supply of raw materials threatened. In order to protect the basis of their business, these companies work with their supply chains, policy makers, scientists and civil society to find sustainble solutions to the world's water crisis. The presentation will highlight the challenges faced by agriculture and the food business in an increasingly water-stressed environment and present practical examples for the way forward. It will also address the devastating effect on food security and water availability that are a direct consequence of misguided subsidies for food-based agrifuels. The relationship between climate change and water scarcity, including carbon and water footprints, will be discussed in the context of sustainable production and consumption.