Beer company Heineken announced today that starting in July, all Heineken beer brewed for the Dutch market was produced using 100% green energy. The initiative is part of the company’s “Brewing a Better World” sustainability program, which includes the goal of reducing the CO2 emissions of its breweries.

Hans Böhm, Managing Director HEINEKEN Netherlands:

“With our global ‘Brewing a Better World’ program we are making the chain and our products sustainable step by step. Our ultimate goal is to be fully circular in the Netherlands by 2030 with breweries that are completely climate neutral. Recently, we have been able to take many great steps, including further scaling up biogas and solar energy. I am proud to say that since last month we have been brewing our Heineken for Dutch consumers using 100% green energy. This applies to all product and packaging variants covered by the Heineken brand in the Dutch market, including Heineken 0.0.”

Heineken produces approximately three million hectolitres of beer per year for Dutch consumers. The energy needed to brew and package products for this market are now sourced from solar energy, wind energy and biogas from waste purification. Overall, the initiative requires 22,400 MWh of green electricity and 43,000 MWh of biogas per year.

According to Heineken, the biogas used for brewing and packaging is produced from the waste water of the breweries in Zoeterwoude and Den Bosch and supplemented with biogas from the waste purification of the Aa Water Authority and Maas. Böhm commented:

“We really consider green energy to be an indispensable new ingredient in our Heineken beer. Wind and sun are just as important as hops, water and yeast. The use of sustainable energy literally makes Heineken even greener. But our ambition goes further. The next step is to make our packaging materials more sustainable in the short term and to further close the material cycle in the Netherlands.”

Heineken also outlined other sustainability efforts the company is making. In packaging materials and logistics processes, initiatives include offering Heineken 0.0 in refillable green bottles and crates, and supplying pubs in Dutch city centers with the sustainable ‘mini’ tank beer truck, which reduces the need for the large truck. The company has also started utilizing the services of electric sailing system provider Zero Emission Services B.V., transporting emission-free beer from the brewery in Zoeterwoude to the port in Moerdijk. Additionally, Heineken will soon begin packaging its Affligem products in refillable brown returnable bottles, which produce seven times less CO2 emissions than one-way bottles.