Brewing giant pledges to deliver carbon neutral production by 2030 and full value chain by 2040
Heineken has this week announced new goals to become a 'carbon neutral' operation by 2030, after signing up to the RE100 initiative and Race to Zero campaign and pledging to have its new emissions goals independently validated by the science-based targets initiative.
The brewing giant said that as part of its updated Brew a Better World strategy it would aim to decarbonise its own production by 2030 and its full value chain by 2040, while also delivering on an interim target to cut emissions from its value chain by 30 per cent against a 2018 baseline by 2030.
The company said the targets would make Heineken the "first global brewer to aim for carbon neutrality in its full value chain".
"In this 'Decade of Action', we are committing to accelerating our actions to address climate change," said HEINEKEN's CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board Dolf van den Brink. "We aim to be carbon neutral in our production sites by 2030 in order to meet the 1.5C goal set by the Paris Agreement. We will further reduce our emissions through energy efficiency and speed up the transition towards renewable energy."
However, he also stressed how the company would ramp up efforts to work with its partners to slash emissions across its supply chain. "A large part of our overall carbon footprint beyond production comes from agriculture, packaging, distribution, and cooling," he explained. "This means we will work in close partnership with our suppliers and partners to reach our ambitious goal of a carbon neutral value chain by 2040. We know that Heineken can only thrive if our planet and our communities thrive."
The company said that the new targets would build on considerable progress over the past decade, which have seen it implement over 130 renewables projects worldwide and reduce carbon emissions per hectoliter in its breweries by 51 per cent since 2008.
In addition, HEINEKEN is supporting a pilot of 500 low-carbon farming projects in eight countries, as well as shifting to zero-emission breweries in Spain and Austria and deploying smart fridges in Mexico that leverage software to automatically adjust cooling settings to minimise energy use.