Better Health for All

Xylem's core business in water technology fundamentally contributes to public health, providing solutions for clean drinking water, wastewater treatment, and pollution prevention, including addressing PFAS contamination. The company maintains a near-perfect product safety record, with only one moderate incident and no reported personal injury from 26 product safety inquiries in 2024.

Xylem's entire business model is focused on preventative health, emphasizing disaster preparedness to combat waterborne disease and improving water, sanitation, and hygiene in community health centers. The company actively addresses global health crises, responding to 43 disasters with humanitarian aid in 2024 and 154 since 2019, deploying emergency water filtration systems to serve up to 160,000 people in disaster-struck regions. Through partnerships, Xylem provided water education to 2.1 million people in 2024 and over 12 million since 2019, including 3.3 million children in vulnerable communities in India, and trained 1,600 health professionals across 60 countries.

Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Xylem Inc. is a water technology provider and does not offer lending, deposit, or other consumer financial services. Consequently, all KPIs related to consumer financial products, pricing, fees, customer financial data, fair lending compliance, customer debt burden, financial service access points, and product simplicity for financial products are not applicable or score 0 based on the rubric's definitions for non-financial companies. While Xylem invests $12 million in mission-driven banks and credit unions (as of December 31, 2024)

which originated $4.4 billion in loans to under-resourced communities in 2024, these actions are indirect and do not align with KPIs requiring a direct loan/insurance book or financial service operations by Xylem itself. The company provides employee benefits such as a student debt program ($100 monthly payment up to $10,000 lifetime maximum) and early wage access, and offers financial planning workshops for employees in Europe, but these are internal programs, not external financial services for underserved communities. Donations to water-related causes (0.7% of profits in 2024, or $6.4M+) are for water access and education, not community finance reinvestment as defined by the rubric.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

Xylem Inc. was cited by OSHA for one willful and eight serious safety violations, totaling nine substantiated labor-law breaches, with proposed penalties of $234,054.

The company's employee pulse survey in Q3 achieved a 57% overall favorable result. In 2024, the CEO to median employee pay ratio was 180:1. Conversely, Xylem achieved a Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) of 0.52 in 2024. The voluntary turnover rate for the combined company in 2023 was 8.5%.

Fair Trade & Ethical Sourcing

Xylem reported zero incidents of forced labor or child labor in its operations and supply chains in 2024.

The company's standard terms and conditions of purchase include a certification prohibiting modern slavery, and suppliers are required to adhere to its Business Partner and Supplier Partner Code of Conduct. Xylem achieved its goal of directing 9.2% of its U.S. spend to qualified small or diverse suppliers. Supplier labor and human rights practices are reviewed annually using EcoVadis ratings, with three on-site audits conducted for "Sustainability High Risk" suppliers in 2024. At the close of 2024, 42% of Xylem’s global supplier base by spend held an active EcoVadis scorecard. For conflict minerals, 225 out of 351 identified smelters and refiners were independently validated as conflict-free in 2023. Xylem surveyed 3,396 in-scope suppliers for conflict minerals in 2023, with a 55.9% response rate.

Honest & Fair Business

Xylem's acquired company, Evoqua, paid an $8.5 million criminal monetary penalty in May 2024.

Xylem has a comprehensive Whistleblowing Policy, updated in November 2023, which allows anonymous reporting via multiple channels (24-hour Integrity Line, email, postal mail, SharePoint portal) and strictly prohibits retaliation. Reports are acknowledged within seven days, with a response provided within three months. Xylem maintains a comprehensive anti-corruption policy that explicitly prohibits all forms of bribery and corruption, including facilitation payments, and includes a robust due diligence process for third parties.

Kind to Animals

Xylem Inc. operates in the specialty industrial machinery sector, focusing on water management technologies.

The company does not have direct involvement in animal welfare initiatives, animal testing, animal agriculture, or the use of animal-derived ingredients in its products. Therefore, most KPIs related to cruelty-free certifications, animal testing, humane operations, ethical sourcing, and animal agriculture ethics are not applicable to its business model. While Xylem employees engage in environmental activities such as tree planting and habitat creation , the provided evidence does not include measurable biodiversity impact or the percentage of revenue specifically allocated to these conservation initiatives, as required by the 'wildlife_conservation_impact' KPI.

No War, No Weapons

Xylem Inc.'s business operations do not involve the production or supply of weapons or military-specific technologies, focusing solely on civilian applications related to water management and environmental solutions

. As a participant in the UN Global Compact, Xylem demonstrates a commitment to human rights principles .

Planet-Friendly Business

Total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in 2024 were 69,142,672 tCO2e, an increase from 2023.

The company's 2030 science-based targets, validated by SBTi in December 2024, are aligned to a 1.5°C reduction scenario. In 2024, 80% of total electricity was derived from renewable sources. Water withdrawal intensity in 2024 was 290 m³ per $1 million revenue. Approximately 61% of waste generated was recycled in 2024. Xylem does not anticipate using carbon offsets in the near-term. The company completed its second TCFD assessment in 2024, with results included in its Climate Action Plan, covering Scope 1, 2, and upstream Scope 3 emissions. This assessment evaluated transition and physical risks across multiple climate pricing scenarios (1.5°C, 1.7°C, 2.4°C) and physical risk scenarios (2.1–3.5°C and 3.3–5.7°C).

Respect for Cultures & Communities

Xylem invested $12 million in mission-driven banks and credit unions that facilitate investments in historically underserved communities in 2024, representing 0.14% of its total revenue.

The company has no reported cultural appropriation incidents. Xylem provides a global Integrity Line, a 24/7 confidential reporting portal available to employees, suppliers, and customers in its key languages, complemented by a global network of over 100 trained Integrity Ambassadors. The company actively protects cultural sites by collaborating with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to restore freshwater mussels, planting 60,000 native trees in lands revered by the Otomí people, and reconstructing a water distribution system in a culturally significant region for the Impenetrable Chaqueño community. , , Xylem's charitable giving of 0.7% of company profits is directed towards water-related causes and education, without a specific focus on cultural heritage organizations.

Safe & Smart Tech

No recent security news regarding data breaches has been reported.

The last identified cyber attack on a water treatment plant (Oldsmar, Florida) was in February 2021, which is over five years ago. The company implements a rigorous secure development framework, automatic and manual code testing, and a 24/7 Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT). A Product Security Operations Center (PSOC) monitors systems around the clock. Regular testing, including periodic vulnerability scanning and penetration testing, is conducted, and third-party assessments are engaged. The company also actively discloses security advisories for identified vulnerabilities. It uses industry-standard encryption technologies for data transfer and to protect personal information exchanged with its sites. The company states compliance with major privacy regulations, including GDPR for EU residents, California law (CCPA), and PRC's Personal Information Protection Law for mainland China residents. It also actively helps shape cybersecurity regulations and standards. No documented incidents of unauthorized data use have been reported.

Zero Waste & Sustainable Products

Xylem's waste recovery rate was 61% in 2024.

The company aims for zero waste to landfill from processes at major facilities, defined as a minimum of 90% waste diversion, and 19 out of 21 major facilities achieved this goal by the end of 2024. Over 82% of packaging material consists of reusable, recyclable, or compostable content. In terms of product materials, the Emmaboda foundry uses approximately 89% recycled content in gray iron castings and up to 95% in hard iron products. Xylem implements numerous waste reduction initiatives, including 100% process water reuse at 19 out of 21 major facilities and a catalytic combustion system reducing VOC emissions by over 90% at its Shenyang paint shop. The hazardousness of total waste was reduced by 12.77% from 2019 to 2023. The Shenyang facility will reduce hazardous waste liquid by about 45 tons annually. Xylem's approach to the circular economy is guided by ISO 59004:2024 principles, aiming to design products for easy disassembly, service, maintenance, and repair, and guarantees spare parts for Flygt pumps for up to 20 years. The company has a zero waste to landfill goal for major facilities, a 2025 sustainable packaging goal, and 2030 Science-Based Targets for GHG emissions. Xylem sets clear environmental expectations for suppliers through its Code of Conduct and leverages EcoVadis assessments, with 42% of its global supplier base by spend having completed an assessment by the end of 2024.