Heineken is aiming to increase its share of renewables in its energy use mix to 70% by 2030.

Dutch brewing giant, Heineken is looking to create gear-change for its renewable energy strategy and will therefore not purchase unbundled certificates to meet its reduction targets.

The firm will instead increase investments in clean energy. Since 2008, Heineken has reduced its carbon emissions by 41%, with the company having reached its 2020 target last year.

New emission targets will be set regarding distribution, cooling and packaging, with purchasing decisions made with an eye on widening the scope of the firm’s renewables ambition.

Currently 29% of Heineken global electricity usage is met by renewables, with 70% comprising thermal, and 30%, electricity. Heineken currently has a handful of factories that are powered by solar PV globally, including a solar brewery installed in Massafra, Italy, which is one of the largest arrays of its type in the world, with a capacity of 3.3 MW. Heineken also owns a renewable-powered factory in Singapore, powered by wind and solar energy.

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Jean-François van Boxmeer, Chairman of the Executive Board/CEO of Heineken commented, “With all the good progress made in reducing our CO 2 emissions, now is the right time to set ourselves new targets. When I visit our breweries I want to see that we are brewing with real green energy and that we are not achieving our reduction targets by buying unbundled certificates.”

“Beyond production, distribution and cooling, we are also going to take a close look at our packaging, because it represents a significant portion of our carbon footprint. Packaging is an area where reductions will be harder to achieve because we simply cannot do this alone. We invite our business partners and others to work with us to reduce emissions across our business,” added van Boxmeer, who recently joined the CEO Climate Leadership Initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.