Heineken Vietnam staff hand over emergency relief to flood victims in the central region of Viet Nam in 2020. — Photo Heineken Vietnam
Heineken Vietnam on June 24 released its 2020 Sustainability Report, highlighting its resilience and commitment to sustainability development during 2020 on the occasion of its 30th anniversary in Viet Nam.
“In 2020 we saw the challenges brought on by COVID-19 unfold, and the world around us is changing in an unprecedented manner,” reflects Alexander Koch, Managing Director, Heineken Vietnam. “Against this backdrop, in 2020 Heineken Vietnam not only demonstrated our strength and resilience, we also seized the opportunity to become more innovative and responsible in every aspect of our business operation and showed how important it is to stay committed to supporting Viet Nam’s sustainable development agenda throughout.”
The report said that in 2020 Heineken Vietnam contributed 0.87 per cent through its value chain to Viet Nam’s GDP and 85 per cent of the company’s input materials were locally sourced and supplied. The company also signed the United Nation’s Women’s Empowerment Principles, with the vision of growing and nurturing an inclusive and diverse workplace. In 2020, women made up 32 per cent of the company’s senior management.
To date, five out of six breweries of Heineken Vietnam are using 100 per cent renewable thermal energy with plans for the sixth brewery already underway. All fridges are environmentally friendly and all glass beer bottles in bars and restaurants have a “two-way” system where they are returned to the brewery to be sanitised before being reused several times.
To stand strong with those facing hardship in 2020, Heineken Vietnam contributed VND12 billion and 22,000 masks to COVID-19 relief funds, and donated VND3.2 billion for disaster relief in the Central region, in support of the most vulnerable communities across Viet Nam in the past year. The company also supported its business partners by giving away 1.5 million free Tiger bottles across 47 cities & provinces to encourage consumers to visit their favourite bars when they reopened for business after social distancing.
Towards its 2025 Sustainability Ambition of 100 per cent renewable energy, 100 per cent water balanced and zero waste to landfill, in 2020 Heineken Vietnam powered its breweries with 56 per cent renewable energy and reused and/or recycled 99 per cent of waste and by-products. This is part of the company’s efforts to “Raise the Bar” to meet the company’s global ambition of becoming carbon neutral in all breweries worldwide by 2030, throughout its value chain in 2040 and become fully circular by 2050.
Heineken Vietnam was recognised as one of the two most sustainable companies in Viet Nam in 2020 by the VCCI. — VNS