As Europe faces increasing pressure on water resources, the visit highlighted how industrial water reuse and clearer policy standards can help reduce freshwater use and strengthen the competitiveness of European industries.

Grundfos and Carlsberg Group this week welcomed European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall, to Denmark for a joint demonstration of how proven water technologies can help European industries strengthen resilience through increased water reuse and more efficient water management.

The visit comes as Europe faces mounting pressure from drought, historically low river levels during the summer and increasing water stress. With the EU aiming to improve water efficiency and reduce water abstraction by 10% by 2030, Grundfos and Carlsberg Group believe wider deployment of proven reuse technologies can support both European competitiveness and environmental resilience.

The two Danish companies are working together to advance industrial water efficiency at scale and demonstrating how water can be reduced, reused and reclaimed in industrial operations. At Carlsberg Denmark’s brewery in Fredericia, Grundfos’ solutions have helped Carlsberg recycle up to 90% of its process water.

“The Commissioner’s visit was an opportunity to show that the technologies and solutions needed to address some of Europe’s most pressing water challenges already exist. Just as importantly, it demonstrated that these solutions work on an industrial scale. With the right policy framework, we can accelerate wider adoption and turn proven technologies into broader impact,” said Poul Due Jensen, Group President and CEO of Grundfos.

Europe currently reuses only a fraction of its wastewater, while utilities lose around 25% of treated water before it reaches customers.  At the same time, light industries could reduce water consumption by 50-70%, equivalent to the annual water use of 67 million European households.

The Grundfos-Carlsberg example shows that industrial water reuse is already technically feasible and ready to scale.

To unlock the full potential of water reuse across the EU, Grundfos is calling for clearer and more harmonised frameworks for industrial water reuse in Europe, including common standards, streamlined permitting and investment conditions that make it easier for companies to deploy proven solutions across sectors and borders.

Due Jensen said: “Europe needs to rethink how it uses water. In many high-volume industrial applications, such as wash-down and cooling, freshwater is not required. Yet reuse is still too difficult to scale. Clearer standards and simpler rules would help industry invest faster in solutions that build resilience and competitiveness.”