Anheuser-Busch InBev on Track to Achieve Global Goal of 3.5 Hectoliters of Water Usage Per Hectoliter of Production by 2012
Company Substantially Reduces Average Water Use Per Unit of Production in 2010
Anheuser-Busch InBev (Euronext: ABI) (NYSE: BUD) today announced its progress toward achieving a set of aggressive three-year global environmental goals as part of its Better World commitment. Core among these goals, which the company unveiled last March, is a leading-edge water-usage target for AB InBev’s plants of 3.5 hectoliters of water for each hectoliter of production by the end of 2012. In 2010, the company’s average water use was 4.04 hectoliters per hectoliter of production, which represents a reduction of 6 percent year over year and a savings equivalent to more than 16,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools when compared to the company’s 2007 water use ratio1. This puts the company on track to reach the savings it committed to achieving by the end of 2012.
“Announcing our global goals last year was an important milestone for Anheuser-Busch InBev. Setting these aggressive, measurable targets brought our Better World strategy to life and has united our colleagues around the world in pursuit of a common purpose,” said Carlos Brito, CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev. “The collective efforts of our 114,000 people over the past year has sparked innovation and created the focus required to achieve our ambitious global environmental goals by 2012. This work will carry forward through 2011 as we continue to drive sustainability each day in support of our dream to be the Best Beer Company in a Better World.”
Anheuser-Busch InBev steadily reduced its global water usage rate over the past year by employing a mix of engineering improvements, operational innovations and strong awareness and behavior-driven actions to optimize efficiency in every plant. The company’s unique system-wide process — Voyager Plant Optimization (VPO) — drives efficiency at plants through uniform processes and measurable standards for operations, quality, safety and the environment.
Anheuser-Busch InBev also tapped into the ingenuity of our talented workforce by celebrating World Environment Day (WED), an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), across our operations on June 4, 2010. As part of WED, AB InBev employees developed and executed 567 environmental and volunteerism projects in 21 countries, implementing numerous best practices across our global operations to help conserve natural resources. Several facilities in the company’s key geographies are driving company-wide progress:
• In 2010, in the United States, the Cartersville, Ga., facility achieved an annual water use metric of 3.04 hectoliters of water per hectoliter of production compared with a company-wide average of 4.04 hectoliters in 2010, making it the most water efficient brewery in our company.
• In China, the company’s Ningbo brewery borrowed many of the lessons learned in AB InBev’s annual energy and water global conference from high-performing plants like Cartersville, Ga., and is on track to achieve the 2012 water usage target one year ahead of schedule by implementing basic innovations, for instance narrowing bottle-washing nozzle diameters and reusing reclaimed water for general cleaning, and through a strong integration of utilities planning into the overall production scheduling process.
• Our breweries in Belgium reduced 2010 water usage by 12 percent compared to 2009, primarily through optimization of brewing, packaging and utilities processes.
• The Wernigerode brewery in Germany, which was engineered to be extremely resource-efficient, has already achieved the 2012 water use goal, having reached an annual water use metric of 3.2 hectoliters of water per hectoliter of production in 2010 through a strong management focus on conservation that relentlessly pursues the most economical use of resources and fine-tunes procedures.
• In Russia and Ukraine, breweries have collectively reduced water use by 8 percent in 2010 and by more than 12 percent since January 2009. The process has been accelerated through the work of “water sheriffs” in all plants who are tasked with finding and fixing water leakages, deploying best practices learned from other facilities and helping employees work together to achieve their aggressive water savings targets.
• In the company’s Latin America South zone, several facilities achieved double-digit reductions in water usage in 2010. In Argentina, our Corrientes brewery conducted a careful analysis and reformulation of the standard process for shutdown and restart of equipment. These processes contributed to a water usage rate in the Corrientes brewery of 3.4 hectoliters of water per hectoliter of production in 2010, a more than 14 percent reduction from 2009. In Bolivia, our plants concentrated their efforts on improving the control of the production process to reduce losses and inefficiencies. This led to an average water use reduction of 15 percent compared to 2009.
• In Brazil in 2010, the company’s Jacarei and Cuiaba plants delivered their all-time best annual performance and joined the group of breweries already performing close to or below the 2012 global goal of 3.5 hectoliters of water usage per hectoliter of production. Management commitment to minimize losses combined with targeted investment in upgrading packaging equipment and automation drove the improvement.
In addition to making progress toward achieving its rigorous water goal, the company attained a 3.7 percent decrease in energy use compared to 2009 on a per hectoliter basis (megajoules per hectoliter), marking steady movement toward its goal of reducing energy use by 10 percent compared to 2009 levels by the end of 2012.
Anheuser-Busch InBev is also well on its way to achieving the ambitious global environmental goals of reducing its carbon emissions per hectoliter of production by 10 percent by the end of 2012 and of reaching a 99 percent recycle rate by eliminating material losses, improving packaging efficiencies and determining cost-effective alternative uses for raw materials and byproducts.
Anheuser-Busch InBev’s work to lighten its impact on the environment is one of three core pillars of the company’s Better World plan. The company’s global goals also include commitments on promoting responsible drinking and giving back to the communities in which the company operates.
* To promote responsible drinking on a global scale, Anheuser-Busch InBev has implemented designated driver/safe-ride home programs and awareness-building campaigns in all of its key markets. Among its industry-leading efforts in this area was the launch of China’s first-ever national designated driver campaign in February 2010.
* AB InBev will also continue to engage with local communities in each of its markets. In 2010, markets around the world participated in community outreach that furthers the Better World vision, including cleanup activities, such as riverbed and street cleanup projects; partnerships with organizations that help build homes for those in need; and canned water donations and fundraising for victims of natural disasters.
About Anheuser-Busch InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev is a publicly traded company (Euronext: ABI) based in Leuven, Belgium, with an American Depositary Receipt secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUD). It is the leading global brewer and one of the world’s top five consumer products companies. A true consumer-centric, sales driven organization, AB InBev manages a portfolio of well over 200 beer brands that includes global flagship brands Budweiser®, Stella Artois® and Beck’s®, fast growing multi-country brands like Leffe® and Hoegaarden®, and strong “local champions” such as Bud Light®, Skol®, Brahma®, Quilmes®, Michelob®, Harbin®, Sedrin®, Klinskoye®, Sibirskaya Korona®, Chernigivske®, and Jupiler®, among others. In addition, the company owns a 50 percent equity interest in the operating subsidiary of Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer and owner of the global Corona® brand. AB InBev’s dedication to heritage and quality is rooted in brewing traditions that originate from the Den Hoorn brewery in Leuven, Belgium, dating back to 1366 and the pioneering spirit of the Anheuser & Co brewery, which traces its origins back to 1852 in St. Louis, USA. Geographically diversified with a balanced exposure to developed and developing markets, AB InBev leverages the collective strengths of its approximately 114 000 employees based in operations in 23 countries across the world. The company strives to be the Best Beer Company in a Better World. In 2010, AB InBev realized 36.3 billion US dollar revenue. For more information, please visit: www.abinbev.com.
About Better World
Through our commitment to be the Best Beer Company in a Better World, Anheuser-Busch InBev is the beer industry leader in social responsibility initiatives, ranking as the No. 1 brewer in social responsibility in FORTUNE Magazine’s “World’s Most Admired” beverage companies’ list. Our Better World efforts focus on three pillars: promoting responsible drinking; protecting the environment; and giving back to the communities in which we live and work. Around the world, we develop and implement social responsibility programs and campaigns in partnership with parents, government officials, community organizations, retailers and others. From promoting responsible drinking messages on some of the world’s most watched television programming, to turning coconut husks into renewable energy to fuel our breweries, to volunteering in the community, Anheuser-Busch InBev and its employees are committed to making a difference.
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1 The number of Olympic-size swimming pools is derived as follows: Total amount of water needed in 2007 to produce the company’s latest verified volume of production (409 million hl x 5.03 hl of production) less total amount of water needed in 2010 to produce the same volume of product (409 million hl X 4.04) equals 404,910,000 hl divided by the number of hl in an Olympic-size swimming pool (25,000 hl), for a total of 16,000 Olympic swimming pools.
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