Managing our responsibilities 01. in building sustainability to any one person, department or office. Our achievements are shared by all our employees and operating companies. We have achieved a great deal over the past two years: sometimes as a consequence of central policy (for example, in reducing energy and water consumption, implementing our alcohol policy, the transposition of our code of business conduct and whistle-blowing procedure): more often driven by the conviction and efforts of local operating companies' management and staff sharing the efforts of Heineken in a responsible way and responding to the expectations of the world around us. Their conviction provides a guiding principle for our central corporate responsibility agenda. At this central level, we aim to address issues that present a threat or opportunity to the Group as a whole. We choose to leave local issues in the hands of those best equipped to deal with them - our local people - always, of course, with the active support of our head office at Heineken N.V. as needed. Secondly, the number of breweries still operating above our global ambition of maximum seven hectolitres water consumption per one hectolitre of beer produced is an area where we will take further action. And thirdly, our efforts in reducing accident frequency and severity will be intensified, as targets set for 2006 are likely not to be met. Given the growing demand for non-financial information from our stakeholders, we have completed this Sustainability Report in time to allow discussion of its content at our Annual General Meeting in April 2006. We have also decided to produce a full sustainability report every year from now on. This will help us to create a more flexible corporate responsibility agenda and to meet stakeholders' demands in good time and greater detail. We believe that the focus in this report on Heineken's different roles (publicly owned company, employer, producer, marketer, corporate citizen) and on the concrete activities we undertake in each of them, enhances accessibility. I am also pleased by the recognition our sustainability performance has received. We have maintained our listing in the FTSE4Good Index and in 2005 were included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) - in both the STOXX and the World Index. This means that according to the annual benchmark carried out by Sustainable Asset Management in Zurich, whose research is at the basis of the DJSI, Heineken is a sustainability leader in our sector. I am also proud to tell you that our previous Sustainability Report won the Dutch ACC Award. Heineken is recognised as a company that takes its responsibilities seriously, and with this in mind, I wrote a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations in December 2005, expressing our company's commitment to the UN Global Compact. While we have achieved many successes, there are also areas that require further improvement. First of all, five colleagues lost their lives in work-related accidents (including road accidents) during 2004. In 2005 the number was six. This is of paramount concern for Heineken and on behalf of the Executive Board I would like to offer our sincere condolences to the friends and relatives they have left behind. All these improvements in our reporting ultimately serve a single goal: to give all stakeholders the information they need to challenge, question, support or partner with us. We have achieved a lot over the past two years. Looking forward, in 2006 we will continue to work on our sustainability priorities - environmental care, business conduct, alcohol policy and supply- chain responsibilities. We will also be developing a number of interesting new programmes on other issues that add value to the business. As always, you are invited to join us in our efforts. Along with my colleagues, I look forward to your valuable feedback and cooperation. Amsterdam, 13 April 2006 Heineken N.V. - 2004/2005 Sustainability Report

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Heineken - Milieuverslag | 2004 | | pagina 3