A growing number of consumers am considering sustainability when making
purchasing decisionsand^are willing t6 pay premium prices fo/productsfroi
I 'A t I' Mf
socially and environmentally responsible companies. Vera Zandbergen, Moijic
Global Sustainable Development, explains how HEINEKEN's new sustckhability
priorities ml continue to drive business value as consumer behavioui evolve
A sustainable barley
initiative in Ethiopia
HEINEKEN has redefined its
sustainability priorities. Why?
Brewing a Better Future is our long-
term approach to becoming a truly
sustainable business. When we launched
this new approach in 2010, we set 2012
as our first milestone. Last year we took
stock of what we had achieved and
assessed whether we were still on track.
Were you on track?
In the first three years, we embedded
sustainability in the way we think, act
and communicate; developed policies
and structures to support the roll-out
of the programme; and put in place
governance and reporting systems.
As a result, we have seen progress and
improvements across the business.
Among the highlights, we achieved a
specific energy consumption reduction of
more than 10%, 99.9% of all new fridges
purchased now have one or more 'green'
characteristic, and 48% of raw materials
used in Africa - an important emerging
market for us - are sourced locally.
Have global trends affected your
progress?
Although we are making good progress
against our 2020 targets, we recognise
that as a global organisation we are
not immune to global trends. Climate
change, population growth, and
32 World of HEINEKEN Edition 2 2013
