The Carlsberg Group has committed to eliminating carbon emissions and halving water usage at its breweries by 2030. In an announcement on Tuesday, Carlsberg said it had started a new sustainability programme dubbed Together Towards ZERO. It is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and sets out to deliver emission reductions that go beyond the base level of ambition set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Carlsberg said it had worked with Carbon Trust, an independent non-profit organization, to set out science based targets for emissions reductions at levels which would help limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Group is targeting ZERO carbon emissions at its breweries by 2030 and 100% use of renewable electricity at its breweries by 2022. Through the Carlsberg Circular Community, the Carlsberg Group is also engaging partners along the value chain to reduce beer-in-hand emissions by 30% by 2030.
On top, the brewing group intends to halve its brewery water usage by 2030 and to work with partners to improve water management in high-risk areas around selected breweries.
Further goals included in the ZERO programme are to prevent accidents and build a ZERO accidents culture. The new targets include a year-on-year reduction in the accident rate in order to achieve the ambition of ZERO accidents.
Last but not least is the target to offer a 100% distribution of alcohol-free beer by 2022 to expand consumer choice, providing responsible drinking messaging and nutritional information online as well as on packaging, and forming partnerships to encourage responsible consumption.
The new sustainability programme is part of Carlsberg’s long term strategic direction, SAIL’22, which was implemented in March last year (inside.beer, 2.9.2016). “Global challenges such as climate change and water scarcity require strong collective action, and with Together Towards ZERO we’re setting new industry standards for science-based and partnership-driven sustainability as part of our SAIL’22 strategy, says Cees 't Hart, CEO of the Carlsberg Group.
In February, Carlsberg released its last sustainability report, which recorded since 2015 a reduction of 6% in energy consumption (kWh/hl), 14% in CO2 emissions (kg CO2/hl) and 6% in water consumption (hl/hl). Meanwhile, 17% of the Group’s energy consumption now comes from renewable sources such as biomass, solar power and certificates with guarantees of origin.
