FDBusiness.com

2011 was a defining year for the Carlsberg Group in terms of driving, accelerating and embedding its eight CSR areas across its operations around the world. This was recognised by the fact that Carlsberg was included in the top five of the 2011 Newsweek Green ranking for its respective category, scoring highest among global brewers in terms of environmental management and footprint.

Carlsberg’s eight CSR areas are: Environment, Health & Safety, Labour & Human Rights, Business Ethics, Marketing Communication, Community Engagement, Responsible Drinking and Responsible Sourcing. Last year Carlsberg succeeded in cutting its energy consumption by 9.3%, water consumption by 5.6% and CO2 emissions by 8.3%.

“We are pleased with the progress we are making in terms of integrating CSR throughout the value chain. We understand that our long term success depends not only on growing, but growing responsibly,” comments Janda Campos, vice-president corporate social responsibility and public affairs at Carlsberg Group. “2011 saw us reach some significant milestones across many of our local markets. One that stands out is in Russia, where our largest operation, Baltika Breweries, achieved an 18% reduction in specific energy in the St Petersburg brewery as a result of us introducing a programme targeting reduction of losses in steam supply lines and heat recovery.”

Other important developments for the Carlsberg Group in 2011 included the investment in a waste water recovery plant for its Hyderabad Brewery in India where the expected annual savings on water from the plant is expected to be 585,000hl. Improved performance was also achieved in Carlsberg’s Brewery in Huizhou (Guangdongprovince), China where the brewer reduced CO2 emissions by around 35% by the introduction of steam from boilers that are powered by biomass.

He continues: “While Carlsberg can take certain steps to reduce its carbon footprint, it is clear that a large proportion of our products’ carbon footprint is related to the production of products bought from suppliers such as packaging. In early 2011, in order to get better visibility on how to reduce the overall carbon footprint, our UK business introduced the Carlsberg Environmental Community and invited some of its biggest suppliers to join the Community, and work in partnership on ways to reduce carbon in the supply chain. The results are already impressive with Carlsberg UK achieving a 22% reduction in carbon emissions in 2011, compared to the previous year. The Carlsberg Environmental Community is a pilot programme for the Carlsberg Group.”

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