Preserving water resources and safeguarding watersheds are important environmental protection priorities. IBM's first water conservation goal was established in 2000 and has evolved over time.

IBM operations are not generally water intensive. The company's water conservation goal prioritizes efforts to reduce water use where it will have the greatest potential environmental impact. IBM's goal is to achieve year-to-year reductions in water withdrawals at larger IBM locations in water-stressed regions. Approximately 85% of water withdrawals at these locations are for domestic consumption in the workplace, of which approximately 60% are for drinking water, cafeteria, washrooms, etc., and approximately 25% are for heating, ventilating and air conditioning of buildings. In 2023, our water withdrawals increased at locations in water-stressed regions by 3.4% versus 2022, despite conservation efforts which avoided withdrawals of approximately 25,800 cubic meters. This increase was primarily associated with the continued return of employees to offices.

Conservation efforts consisted of replacing irrigated turf areas with native drought resistant plants, expanding water system leak detection and repair programs at our locations, upgrading humidifier equipment, and installing waterless urinals and faucet aerators in washrooms. To help us identify additional opportunities for conservation and to enable more accurate measures of water use, we continued to install water meters in campuses and multi-tenant buildings.