Increasingly, companies and organizations are aware of the important role they play in contributing to the sustainability and environmental preservation of our planet. Citizens today expect companies to make all necessary efforts to reduce the impact they generate and to provide effective solutions in the fight against climate change. Heineken Spain is one of those companies that has not hesitated to get involved in all these issues, being accountable to citizens for its progress in a roadmap that it has called Decidedly HEINEKEN.
The brewer has already made great progress in its roadmap that has placed it as a benchmark within its group, achieving some of them five years ahead of the global ambition. In 2022, they invested more than 15 million euros in social and environmental sustainability projects, which this year they will match to exceed a total of 30 million in two years. By 2025, Heineken Spain faces new and ambitious challenges, such as making 90% of its sales to the hospitality industry in reusable formats, reducing its emissions with innovative agricultural projects, maximizing the circularity of water used in factories, expanding its contribution to society. of its Cruzcampo Foundation and promote communication in all social and environmental areas based on truthfulness and honesty.
At an event held in Madrid on September 20, the brewery was accountable for sustainability and presented the progress made to date within its roadmap. All their achievements were presented by Etienne Strijp, president of Heineken Spain, Carmen Ponce, director of Corporate Relations and Sustainability of the company, and Ricardo Nuncio, director of Hospitality Sales Distribution. At the meeting, they brought together a hundred sustainability experts, partners, suppliers and employees, to evaluate and vote on the company's sustainability strategy after the accountability.
Thus, at the end of 2023, 50% of the energy that Heineken Spain will use will already be of renewable origin, thanks to the solar thermal plants in its factories in Seville and Valencia, as well as the El Andévalo photovoltaic plant, in Huelva, the biogas production in the four factories and the biomass boiler at the Jaén factory. In 2024, they will reach 62% renewable energy, when the solar thermal plants operate at full capacity. With all these projects they have been able to reduce emissions by half since 2018, which means 24,200 tons of CO2 less.
Furthermore, recently, the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) has approved global net zero targets across production and the value chain, becoming the first brewer in the world to surpass this milestone. By the end of this year, Heineken Spain will reduce a total of 130,000 tons of CO2e, 24% less, a figure equivalent to the emissions of a city the size of San Sebastián de los Reyes. In achieving these achievements, collaboration with all links in its value chain has been essential.
At the beginning of this chain, the company helps farmers in their transformation by promoting low-carbon fertilizers thanks to the pilot program developed together with Fertiberia and participation in the European consortium FertigHy. At the end of the process, it is worth highlighting the I work with hoteliers to reduce their impact thanks to a last-mile logistics system with electric vehicles in Seville and Malaga, and pilot projects in Madrid, Sitges, Bilbao, Cádiz and Córdoba. To this we must add more than 273,000 eco-efficient coolers in bars and restaurants and an exclusive discount on access to 100% renewable energy thanks to its agreement with Iberdrola.
Year after year, Heineken Spain factories recover more than 95% of waste, which represents 220,000 tons per year that are converted into new products such as animal feed or beer vinegar. The factories in Jaén, Seville and Madrid are already qualified as “Zero Waste to Landfill”, and the one in Valencia will obtain the qualification this year. In the field of packaging, by the end of 2023, the brewer will have reduced almost 5,000 tons of virgin plastic and will use 70% recycled plastic in its secondary packaging.
It is also important to highlight the advances in terms of social contribution. In 2022, hoteliers – which the company considers a key sector in its social commitment – concentrated an investment of 236 million. In the same year, the first edition of the FuerzaBar Barometer was launched, as was the B2B e-commerce platform Eazle which, together with the agreement with Manpower, helps attract qualified personnel in the hospitality industry, work that is also carried out by the Cruzcampo Foundation. The Heineken Spain Foundation, which concentrates a large part of its social work on such outstanding aspects as youth employability, has launched the fourth edition of Talento Cruzcampo, a training and scholarship program that has 90% job placement and which already has more than 200 beneficiaries. In addition, the Cruzcampo Factory, the first microbrewery with a social purpose and non-profit, has welcomed 20,000 visits on its second anniversary.
As President Strijp explained, the company was a pioneer “in introducing sustainability in the brewing sector more than two decades ago.” His desire was to clearly present what was achieved, and also show the work that still remains to be done, "with humility, transparency, honesty and the satisfaction of seeing that we are meeting goals, year after year, with a view to 2025." In this way, Heineken Spain continues its efforts to become a benchmark in its sector in the fight against climate change and environmental protection that can serve as inspiration to many other organizations.
