According to the Carlsberg Group's Sustainability Report 2020, Carlsberg's relative carbon emissions across its total value chain decreased by 7% between 2015 and 2019.
The report also states that Carlsberg's relative carbon emissions across its breweries decreased by 12% reduction, and the group's water efficiency has improved by 7% since 2019.
Carlsberg stated on its website, "We have collaborated with partners and suppliers across every step of the value chain including raw ingredients, packaging and refrigeration to identify, trial and roll out more sustainable solutions. This has resulted in a 7% reduction in our relative beer-in-hand footprint - our total value chain emissions - from 2015 to 2019. We are on track to achieve 15% by 2022 and 30% by 2030."
"Carbon Neutrality"
The website continues, "A further three breweries achieved carbon neutrality in 2020, bringing the total to eight. And from 2019 we reduced carbon emissions per hl of beer produced at our breweries by 12% and water use by 7%. We are sharing and implementing best-practice efficiency measures across the group and trialling innovative technology, such as the total water recovery plant at our Fredericia brewery in Denmark, which will make it world-class in water efficiency, reducing water use from 2.9 to 1.4 hl/hl.
Actions Taken In Response To The COVID-19 Pandemic
Talking about actions taken last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Carlsberg stated, "In our markets across the world, we transformed brewery production lines to produce alcohol for hand sanitiser, donated equipment and alcohol-free beverages to support healthcare workers, and ran campaigns to support the hard-hit hospitality sector. In addition to corporate contributions to support people affected by COVID-19, Carlsberg teams around the world raised funds for local organisations, and the Carlsberg Foundation, New Carlsberg Foundation and Tuborg Foundation donated a total of DKK 109m during the crisis to support research, arts, culture and civil society."
Alcohol-Free Products Developments
Speaking about alcohol-free product developments, the drinks company said, "Increased availability of alcohol-free options is vital to provide consumers with an alternative choice. 100% of our international premium brands and a third of all our brands now offer alcohol-free options. And in 2020 sales volumes of alcohol-free brews grew by 11% (83% since 2015)."
"A Challenging Year"
Carlsberg Group CEO Cees t' Hart commented, "2020 was a challenging year for our business, our customers and our people all around the world. At Carlsberg, we continued our efforts to help communities in this challenging time, while working to reach our ambitious targets to cut carbon and water waste. We will not let COVID-19 throw us off course.
"We're on track to meet our 2022 targets, and since 2015 we’'ve reduced our brewery emissions by 39%, cut our beer-in-hand footprint by 7%, and brought down our water use by 18% for every hectolitre of beer produced."
© 2021 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Dave Simpson. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
