HEINEKEN Asia Pacific Wins Sustainable Business Award In Water Management

 

HEINEKEN Asia Pacific won the Water Management Award for their efforts in water conservation, management and community programs in the region and ambitious water targets set to be achieved by 2020. Globally, the company aims to reduce specific water consumption in their breweries by 25% to 3.7 hl/hl and or significant water compensation/balancing by their production units in water-scarce and distressed areas.

 

An example in the region is HEINEKEN’s "1 Minute Less for Million Smiles" campaign in Vietnam, that encouraged people to conserve clean water and raised donations to provide people in rural areas with better access to clean water. In Thailand, their local operating company worked with Kasetsart University to conduct research on their wastewater sludge, which enabled them to turn it into fertilisers for local farming use.

 

In Indonesia, as HEINEKEN’s two breweries are located in water-stressed areas, water stewardship programmes were piloted to evaluate water source vulnerabilities. Water protection plans were also developed in partnership with non-governmental organisations, to balance water compensation in the communities.

 

Roland Pirmez, President Asia Pacific commented on this award win: “Protecting water resources is a key focus of our long-term sustainability strategy Brewing a Better Future, and I am most pleased to be recognised for our work in this area. Water is central to our needs as a brewer. We understand the critical importance of sustainable water usage and are committed to protecting this precious resource. Water protection continues to be a clear and on-going priority in our sustainability journey. We will keep investing in water conversation and stewardship activities that benefit the wider community, not just our breweries.

 

The awards criteria include a quantitative assessment of companies' environmental impacts as well as their efforts to improve the well-being of the people under their employment, in their supply chain and in their local communities. This allows companies to demonstrate that they are both aware of the scale of their impacts in the social and natural environments in which they operate and that they are taking steps to manage them in a way that is data driven and systematic.

 

For the Water Management category, the efficiency of practices was reviewed as water becomes an increasingly important resource for many businesses.

 

The Sustainable Business Awards was held on 25 November 2014, Tuesday, at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Companies from a diverse range of industries like SingTel, Interface and DHL won awards in categories such as Workforce, Climate Change and Energy Management respectively. The Overall Winner was Unilever, for their robust strategy and management systems that allow them to successfully track and improve on their progress in sustainability.