engagement and dialogue, last year
we organised our first series of 'expert
meetings'. Bringing together a broad
group of external stakeholders and
internal HEINEKEN specialists, the
meetings generated insights on our
sustainability performance, where we are
doing well and where we can be more
ambitious.
We combined the outcomes of these
meetings with our own analysis, which
included reviewing our peers' sustainability
rankings and benchmarking ourselves
against our competitors, to identify and
prioritise the issues, risks and opportunities
most relevant to our business and
stakeholders. The result of the assessment
- a complex but rewarding process that
took the best part of a year - was a
simplified, more focused sustainability
agenda based around four key areas.
Do you have measurable targets?
Each of the four areas is built around a
number of concrete commitments.
These state our ambitions for 2020,
with the milestones we need to reach
by 2015. For 'Water', for instance, our
2020 ambition is to reduce specific water
consumption by 25%, to 3.7 hi of water
to produce 1 hi of beer. The milestone
for 2015 is to reduce specific water
consumption to 3.9 hi of water per hi
of beer. By way of comparison, in 2012
we achieved 4.2 hl/hl. The ambitions we
set in 2010 have not changed and are
integrated into our new agenda.
How will the new agenda be
translated into action?
Sustainability is now one of the
Company's key strategic priorities. In
addition, we have already embedded
Brewing a Better Future in the majority of
our Operating Companies and will align
all future acquisitions with the approach.
Our new priorities and commitments
were communicated extensively at the
beginning of the year. We have also made
sustainability one of the five merit areas
in senior managers' annual performance
appraisals. This means that sustainability
becomes an integral aspect of behaviour
rather than an afterthought linked to a
short-term financial bonus.
What are the focus areas?
Water: reducing water
consumption and
balancing water demand
O» Climate change: reducing
the environmental impact
in the value chain
Sourcing: securing our
supply chain of materials
O» Responsible consumption:
reducing alcohol-related
harm
34 World of HEINEKEN Edition 2 2013
