Heineken Malaysia Wins Award For Green Leadership, Recognised For Water Stewardship Initiatives

3 September 2021 – Heineken Malaysia Berhad (HEINEKEN Malaysia) won the Green Leadership Award at the Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA) 2021 held virtually on Thursday, 2 September. The award underlines HEINEKEN Malaysia’s water stewardship efforts that culminated in the brewer balancing more than 100% of water used in its products in 2020.

Commenting on the achievement, Roland Bala, HEINEKEN Malaysia’s Managing Director said, “We are honoured to be recognised for our leadership in environmental sustainability, especially in protecting water resources, in line with our Brew A Better World sustainability goals. We have an ambitious target to balance 1.5 litres for every 1 litre of water used in making our products. In 2020, through initiatives like river and peatland conservation, rainwater harvesting, reforestation, and other community initiatives, we achieved 267% versus our water balancing target, reaching this milestone 10 years ahead of our 2030 commitment. The recognition from AREA 2021 adds to our solid track record in sustainability as we continue investing in initiatives that keep us on track to brew a sustainable future for our people, business and planet.”

“HEINEKEN Malaysia has clearly defined long-term sustainability commitments to meet. In terms of water, we will strive to continue balancing the water we use at our Sungei Way Brewery, whilst at the same time improve the efficiency and circularity of our water use. Our targets are to reduce water consumption in production to 2.6 hectoliters per hectoliter of product by 2030, continue to fully balance water used in our products, fully treat our wastewater as we are already doing, and drive collective action to protect our
water resources,” he added.

Compared to its 2014 baseline, HEINEKEN Malaysia has made commendable progress as of 2020, reducing water consumption in production by 15.5%, and has a water treatment plant on site that treats 100% of wastewater beyond the standards of the Department of Environment. In recognition of its Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance, HEINEKEN Malaysia was inducted into the FTSE4Good Bursa Malaysia (F4GBM) Index as of June 2021.

Receiving the award virtually, Renuka Indrarajah, Corporate Affairs and Legal Director of HEINEKEN Malaysia said, “Winning in the Green Leadership category at AREA 2021 is a testament of our efforts to lead in water stewardship. Since 2007, we have invested close to RM13.5 million in protecting our water resources, and to date, we have adopted 6 rivers, supported over 6,000 people with alternative water systems in Selangor and Sabah, installed over 1,000 water thimbles in more than 500 households that save over 11.5 million litres of water in the Sungai Penchala, Sungai Way and Sungai Selangor river basins annually, reforested one hectare of degraded peatland and built a 305-metre clay dyke in Raja Musa Forest Reserve to help store up to 140 million litres of water annually.”

“Our water stewardship initiatives are independently quantified and verified by LimnoTech, a leading international environmental science and engineering firm based in the USA. Water is indeed a precious resource and we are committed to do more to foster wider participation from various stakeholders including government, industries and communities to drive collective action. Together, we can be part of the solution to safeguard the sustainability of our water sources,” she concluded.

To learn more about HEINEKEN Malaysia’s sustainability initiatives, please visit
www.heinekenmalaysia.com and www.facebook.com/heinekenmalaysiaberhad. Find out more about AREA 2021, at https://enterpriseasia.org/area/.