AB-InBev will cut its water usage to 3.5 hl/hl beer

Wai-wai-wait: Could it possibly be true that the most aggressive cost-cutter AB-InBev is joining the Green Panthers? Have its executives suddenly seen the light and turned environmentalists? Or have they just realised that saving on water helps them improve their bottom line? It’s a commonly held belief that companies only start caring for the environment if they can make a business case for it. And this seems to have happened at AB-InBev.

On 14 March 2011, the world’s number one brewer announced its progress toward achieving a set of three-year global environmental goals as part of its Better World commitment.

Core among these goals, which the company unveiled a year ago, is a leading-edge water-usage target for AB InBev’s plants of 3.5 hl of water for each hl of production by the end of 2012.

In 2010, the company’s average water use was 4.04 hl per hl of production, which represents a reduction of 6 percent year on year and a savings equivalent to more than 16,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools when compared to the company’s 2007 water use ratio, AB-InBev said. This puts the company on track to reach the savings it committed to achieving by the end of 2012.

The reduction in water use is a major undertaking for AB-InBev as it operates 133 beer and beverage plants around the world.

Its proposed target puts AB-InBev far ahead of its competitors SABMiller, Heineken and Diageo, which will all have some massive catching-up to do.

However, AB-InBev’s announcement should be taken with a pinch of salt as targets can be met or missed.

Cutting down on water usage (hl water/hl beer)

Source: Company data