Case study: How HEINEKEN is protecting water resources
Demand for water has doubled globally over the past 50 years and is expected to increase by another 40% by 2030. In water-scarce areas this means increased competition for water among industry, the general population, agriculture and ecosystems. HEINEKEN uses water in its finished product – beer is 95% water – and throughout its supply chain and recognizes the critical importance of sustainable use and protection of water in order to safeguard this valuable resource.
This case study is based on the 2014 Sustainability Report by HEINEKEN published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate that CSR/ sustainability reporting done responsibly is achieved by identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment and stakeholders and by measuring, managing and changing.
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Abstract
As one of the world’s largest brewers and a signatory to the United Nations CEO Water Mandate, HEINEKEN is aware of its responsibility to promote responsible water use and support its suppliers in doing the same. In order to protect water resources HEINEKEN took action to:
- reduce water consumption in its breweries – HEINEKEN reduced water consumption at its breweries in Mexico by nearly 3.5 million hectolitres in 2014 by optimizing water flows within the production process
- protect water resources and redress the water balance in water-scarce and water-distressed areas
- reduce water consumption in its supply chain and
- ensure that effluent from HEINEKEN’s production units is treated before discharge to surface water
What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2014 Sustainability Report HEINEKEN identified a range of material issues, such as advocating responsible consumption, sustainable sourcing, reducing CO2 emissions. Among these, recognizing the critical importance of sustainable use and protection of water, protecting water resources stands out as a key material issue for HEINEKEN.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups HEINEKEN engages with:
| Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement (in 2014) |
| Customers and consumers | • In-depth discussions with a number of global retailers
• ‘Brewing a Better World’ interactive area |
| Employees | • HEINEKEN Climate Survey
• Enjoy Responsibly Day |
| Employee representatives | • Regular meetings with the HEINEKEN European Works Council (EWC)
• Many of HEINEKEN’s Operating Companies are routinely in dialogue with labour unions and/or have works councils in place |
| Governments
|
• A group of more than 35 representatives from the European Commission visited HEINEKEN’s brewery in Zoeterwoude, the Netherlands
• Members of HEINEKEN’s executive board actively participated at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014 • HEINEKEN’s CEO co-chaired the World Economic Forum on Africa 2014, held in Abuja, Nigeria in May • The Heads of State of Burundi and Sierra Leone and the Prime Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo visited HEINEKEN in the Netherlands |
| Industry associations | • Together with the Brewers of Europe, European Aluminium Association and the European Container Glass Federation, HEINEKEN began a pilot scheme for the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) project
• HEINEKEN continued its involvement with a large number of industry platforms and roundtables, including Green Freight Europe, the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) and the Dutch Sustainable Growth Coalition |
| Investors | • HEINEKEN engaged with institutional investors during the Environment Forum in Paris
• HEINEKEN presented at TBLI (Triple Bottom Line Investing) Conferences in New York and Amsterdam on its Brewing a Better World agenda • Regular dialogue with shareholder groups such as the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development (VBDO) and the Guilé Foundation • Routine contact with Eumedion and other investor groups on a variety of governance and regulatory issues |
| NGOs and international organisations | • Work with NGOs such as EUCORD, The International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and the Clinton Global Initiative in HEINEKEN’s local sourcing projects in Africa and Haiti
• Ongoing dialogue with NGOs on a wide range of topics. These NGOs included Greenpeace, Human Rights Watch, WWF, The Humane Society, Both Ends and the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. |
| Suppliers | • Engagement for sustainable raw materials with both individual suppliers, such as HEINEKEN’s packaging suppliers, and suppliers of agricultural products, such as the Hopfenring group of German hop suppliers
• Dialogue with potentially high-risk suppliers through EcoVadis • HEINEKEN launched ‘Frontier’, a competition to engage new and existing innovative technology suppliers |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
- The Brewing a Better World priorities were defined in conversation with HEINEKEN’s stakeholders.
- To help it in its assessment HEINEKEN started hosting a series of ‘expert meetings’ in 2012. A large group of stakeholders, including NGOs such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International, scientists, industry and governments, met with HEINEKEN’s internal specialists to share insights about its sustainability performance.
- HEINEKEN continued with a new series of meetings in 2013 and 2014, and in 2015 organized a special NGO roundtable in Brussels to collect views on its Brewing a Better World strategy and the road ahead.
- These dialogue sessions helped HEINEKEN build and monitor a prioritised materiality matrix containing the issues, risks and opportunities most relevant to its business and stakeholders.
What actions were taken by HEINEKEN to protect water resources?
In its 2014 Sustainability Report HEINEKEN reports that it took the following actions for protecting water resources:
References:
1) This case study was compiled using published information by Heineken which is located at the links below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses but made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following links:
http://www.theheinekencompany.com/sustainability/brewing-a-better-world/defining-our-priorities (June 2016)
http://www.theheinekencompany.com/sustainability/focus-areas/protecting-water-resources (June 2016)
2) http://www.fbrh.co.uk/en/global-reporting-initiative-gri-g4-guidelines-download-page
3) https://g4.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx
4) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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