is
50%
99%
20
Partnering with suppliers to reduce
scope 3 carbon emissions
Improving water usage and leading
on water stewardship
Launching our global circularity
strategy
Introduction
Sustainability
Review
Other
Information
Financial
Statements
Report
of the
Supervisory
Board
- We are driving systemic change to reduce agriculture-
related emissions through our global Low Carbon
Farming programme, which has resulted in 13%
reduction of carbon emissions and 81%
improvement of carbon sequestration (results based
on 300 pilots in 13 different countries).
- Along with a consortium of six investors (HEINEKEN,
Siemens Financial Services, EIT InnoEnergy, RIC
Energy, MAIRE, InVivo), we invested in a company
called FertigHy and, together, we aim to develop
low carbon fertiliser solutions.
Becoming net zero means not only decarbonising our
own business, but our entire value chain. In the past
year, we intensified collaboration with key suppliers in
agriculture, packaging, logistics and cooling to unlock
low-carbon solutions.
- In Nigeria, one of our biggest markets in Africa,
the local team engaged with the logistics service
providers to invest in newer, larger and lighter trucks
to reduce the number of trips on the road.
- For packaging, we continue to engage suppliers
through the Supplier Leadership on Climate
Transition (Supplier LOCT), offering support with
capability-building in their carbon reduction efforts.
In 2023, we engaged glass suppliers in
decarbonisation workshops.
- As members of the Beverage Industry Environmental
Roundtable (BIER), we joined the Coolition initiative,
a coalition that consists of BIER members,
refrigeration manufacturers and other key
stakeholders to drive change on three fronts:
standards and legislation, circularity, and energy
efficiency and innovation.
Our 2030 water strategy - towards healthy
watersheds - looks beyond traditional water usage
to prioritise the health of local watersheds, especially
in water-stressed areas. We are focused on water
efficiency and the long-term restoration of critical
water basins, especially in water-stressed areas. We
take a value chain approach to water focusing on our
operations, upstream with our suppliers and working
in the communities where we operate.
We set a target to reduce our water usage to 2.6
hectolitres per hectolitre (hl/hl) beer by 2030 in water-
stressed areas and 2.9 hl/hl for all sites. Despite
efficiency loss due to reduced production volumes, we
have maintained our global average water usage at
3.0 hl/hl in our breweries in water-stressed areas and
improved our global average water usage across all
our breweries to 3.2 hl/hl (2022: 3.3), progressing
towards our 2030 targets.
- In Brazil, we have improved water efficiency by
almost 7.5% through a collective pilot project with
its local C&D partner.
- In Ethiopia, our partnership with World Vision
International aims to comprehensively restore the
watershed, improve carbon sequestration and
livelihoods. In the last three years the project has led
to over 500 hectares of rehabilitated land and half a
million trees planted.
- In Tunisia, we have initiated a project to provide
access to clean water for 400 families in the Jebel
Trifi region. This endeavour reflects our focus in
WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) - together,
we’re making a positive impact, fostering healthier
lives and brighter futures.
28 of our 32 sites in water-stressed areas have now
started water balancing projects and 28% of these
sites are fully water balanced. Other highlights include:
Most of the water we use is dedicated to growing our
crops, with agriculture representing approximately
90% of our water footprint. In 2023, we initiated a
comprehensive Water Global Screening, focused on
our top suppliers and primary sourcing areas. This
yielded valuable insights into regions experiencing
water stress and into the maturity of our suppliers in
managing water resources.
We have developed a global circularity strategy
focused on packaging where we will increase
reusability, maximise recycled content and improve
recyclability. Making our product packaging reusable is
a priority. Today, approximately 38% of our packaging
is produced in a reusable format. We want to build on
this by supporting existing and emerging deposit
return schemes and other mechanisms to drive reuse
at scale.
This builds on existing projects across the business that
will support implementation at scale. For example:
- In Cambodia, we transitioned to reusable glass
bottles with over 1,600 on-trade outlets in urban
areas, signing up so far to implement crates and
support #ReturnTheBottle.
- In the Netherlands, Desperados is the eighth beer
brand to switch to reusable bottles in the catering
and retail industry meaning more than 90% of
HEINEKEN Netherlands bottles will be filled and
sold in a refillable format in 2024.
Visit page 147 to learn more about what we have
done on sustainability and environmental
recycled content in bottles
and cans
of all packaging is recyclable
by design
Heineken
N.V.
Annual
Report
2023
By 2030, we aim to reach the following goals:
of volumes sold in reusable
4 3 format
