Over the past decade, HEINEKEN’S Brew a Better World strategy has had a profound influence on our business. It has driven us to innovate and collaborate to protect the environment, support local communities, and make a positive contribution to society.
As we move forward into a decade filled with complex challenges, we can only succeed if we let our planet and our communities thrive. Our Brew a Better World vision for 2030 raises the bar with new commitments to the environment, social sustainability, and responsible consumption on a path to a net zero, fairer and healthier world.
Our 2030 Brew a Better World ambitions are woven into the fabric of our growth strategy, EverGreen, putting sustainability and responsibility front and centre.
At HEINEKEN, we look ahead to a decade of ambitious collective action as the only way forward. Our revised strategy will raise our ambitions on climate action, accelerate our efforts to support the social agency, and see us being even bolder in promoting moderate consumption of alcohol. We will make it a fundamental priority to continue building brands that deliver our sustainability agenda.
Our environmental sustainability agenda focuses on reaching net zero carbon emissions, maximising the circularity and conserving every drop of water.
Our social sustainability agenda sees us embracing inclusion and diversity, aiming for gender balance and championing a culture of belonging in a safe workplace.
Our responsible consumption agenda empowers consumers by providing choice and transparency, as well as advocating for no harmful use of alcohol.
We are building execution and operational momentum to bring our stepped-up Brew a Better World 2030 ambitions to life. This means weaving sustainability into the fabric of how we run our business and the decisions we make, every day.
Spearheading our sustainability efforts is a renewed focus on green initiatives to achieve net zero carbon emissions, conserve water, and contribute to a circular economy in Singapore. We are the first global brewer to have our long-term net-zero and FLAG (Forest, Land and Agriculture) targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
At the same time, we champion social sustainability and believe in growing with the communities that we operate in. As a responsible brewer, we are committed to the message of moderation among beer lovers, and our vision is to empower consumers by providing choice over the right beverage for the right occasion, everywhere and at any time of the day.
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Climate change is one of the greatest threats to our society and it shapes the way we live and do business. We must focus on concrete actions to reduce our carbon footprint significantly and systematically across our businesses; from investing in renewable energy and brewing beer, to increasing energy efficiencies and working closely with customers, consumers, and suppliers.
Harnessing renewable energy
There are 8,038 solar panels on the roofs of our brewery that generate approximately 2,590 MWh of clean electricity annually, contributing to 20% of our power mix.
Maximising energy efficiency
Most of our beers and ciders are consumed cold from fridges (bottles or cans) or from draught equipment (for beer in kegs). We provide our trade partners and suppliers with energy-efficient green fridges to halve the carbon emissions generated by refrigeration.
Water scarcity is a key issue for Singapore and we’re always innovating to achieve greater water efficiency in our brewing process. Our water conservation strategy is built on two principles: water efficiency (using as little water as possible) and water circularity (treating and reusing water).
Pioneering water circularity
We are one of the first breweries in Asia to install a Water Reuse Treatment Plant. The joint development project with the Public Utilities Board and National University of Singapore reduces the brewery’s annual water intake by more than 10%. The amount of water saved is equivalent to the annual water consumption of 316 three-bedroom flats.
Promoting water stewardship
The Rainwater Harvesting System in our brewery collects 15,000m3 of rainwater annually. The rainwater goes through a filtration process to remove sediments and the filtered water is used for gardening and cooling of our towers.
Our business drives a positive force for change and contributes to Singapore’s blueprint to become a zero-waste nation. Our ambition is to maximise the circularity of our products and give a second life to our input and output materials. As a pioneer in the circular economy, we have a robust circularity framework in place where 99% of our by-products are reused and recycled.
Reducing, reusing, recycling
Since the 1980s, we have been utilising a reverse logistic system to collect our used glass bottles and beer kegs from the marketplace to be cleaned and reused. The result is significant – more than 27 million of glass bottles, or approximately 88% of our used glass bottles are being reused and recycled in a year. Even our beer crates are fully reusable and we recycle them when they reach the end of life.
Implementing sustainable packaging strategy
We use easily recyclable materials such as cans, glass and paper in the packaging of our beers for home consumption, and do our part as a signatory of the Singapore Packaging Agreement through efforts like optimising the design of our aluminum cans. This simple yet effective measure eliminated 25,000 kilogrammes of packaging waste and reduced the carbon emissions created through transportation of goods.
Repurposing spent grains
We are committed to sending zero waste to landfill by reusing and recycling the nutritious by-products of our brewing process. We work with farmhouses to repurpose our brewer spent grains into livestock feed, which diverts 20,000 tonnes of waste from the landfills annually. We also work with eco-innovators to explore other options to repurpose our brewer spent grains and upcycle them to produce brand premiums.
Beer is a natural fermented drink that, when enjoyed in moderation, can be part of a balanced lifestyle. As a responsible brewer, the sustained well-being of our consumers is paramount to the sustained well-being of our business.
Advocating responsible consumption
We are committed to championing moderation and using the power of our brand to make responsible consumption cool. This includes investing 10% of Heineken’s media spend on moderation campaigns. We also advocate for transparency so that consumers can make an informed choice. That’s why we provide ingredient and nutritional information on our packaging that goes beyond the industry standard.
Promoting responsible choice
To empower our consumers with choice and options for living a balanced lifestyle, we set our business on a path of innovation and became a pioneer in the industry to develop and introduce a growing number of low and zero-alcohol beers such as Heineken® 0.0 and Tiger Radler.
Addressing harmful use of alcohol
We are a member of the Singapore Alliance for Responsible Drinking, and we educate our consumers on the harmful use of alcohol through responsible consumption campaigns every year.
We are committed to celebrating diversity, fostering inclusion, and ensuring fair living and working standards for our employees and beyond. We put workplace safety as a foremost consideration in everything we do and our target is zero fatalities.
Embracing inclusion and diversity
We strongly believe that embracing inclusion and diversity is not only the right thing to do for our people, but also essential to any successful business. We aim for gender balance across senior management in our business and work towards having 100% of our managers trained in inclusive leadership by 2023. Our community of inclusion and diversity ambassadors curate action plans that address locally relevant challenges and ensure continual progress on topics like culture, race, gender and beyond.
Upholding safety standards and regulations
We adhere strictly to the 12 HEINEKEN Life Saving Commitments that set out clear and simple do’s and don’ts for high-risk activities. We assess our safety performance against these goals and invest in projects to close any gaps.
Accelerating safety improvements through digital innovations
We leverage the advancement in smart technology to build a safe and conducive working environment for our workers. In recent years, we adopted virtual reality safety training to enhance operational readiness, employed drones to inspect high-risk confined spaces, and implemented augmented reality procedures to heighten safety.
We have always believed in fairness, human connection, and the joy of bringing people together. Being the largest brewery in Singapore, we have an opportunity – and a responsibility – to use our business as a positive force for change and help communities prosper. We are committed to making a positive contribution to the communities where we live, work, and sell our products.
Sourcing sustainably
As a large buyer of crops, we support the development of sustainable agricultural supply chains to improve farming practices and enable farmers to adopt better environmental and social standards. We have built a transparent and traceable supply chain that upholds high standards of business conduct and respects both human rights and the environment. All our suppliers are also expected to be compliant with the HEINEKEN supplier code.
Contributing to our nation’s betterment
We recognise our duty and responsibility to the country we were born and bred in, especially as Singapore faces more pressing environmental and social challenges. Some social impact initiatives that we have meaningfully supported includes partnering MindForward Alliance Singapore to launch A Parent’s Guide to Mental Health in Children and Adolescents as well as the “Let’s Recycle Together” movement with Zero Waste Singapore.
Investing in the community
We support social and economic well-being by investing in community initiatives. The Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) Foundation was instituted in 1994 as the philanthropic arm to inspire a better Singapore by caring for both people and planet. We are committed to enhancing educational endeavours and partnering organisations or individuals who share our common goal to serve the society and build a sustainable future.
Generating
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13th time winner of Singapore Packaging Agreement Awards in 2019
SEC-SETSCO Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (Manufacturing) 2019
Certified as Eco-Office: Professional level in 2022
