Heineken commits digital training zero emissions year 2025 - "We want to be the greenest brewer": Heineken is committed to leading sustainability, talent and innovation in the sector with circular packaging, digital training or zero emissions by 2025

The brewing industry experienced firsthand some of the worst consequences of the pandemic. Beer is a drink that 8 out of 10 Spaniards consume regularly and of which Spain is the third largest European producer and the tenth worldwide.

Until the outbreak of the coronavirus, 70% of beer consumption was produced outside the home, but the confinement turned the tables and hit hard the hotels and restaurants, weighed down by the restrictions. For the first time since records exist, consumption fell to double digits and 2020 ended with 36.34 million hectolitres, 19% less than in 2019 and the worst numbers since 2014.

Heineken commits digital training zero emissions year 2025

Spaniards continue to drink beer, but at home: consumption at home concentrated 56% of consumption. The industry is optimistic about the summer and the push of tourism, although doubts and challenges remain and forecasts suggest that stabilization will not come, at least, until 2022.

To talk about recovery, but also digitalization and sustainability, the XVII Smart Business Meeting organized counted with the participation of Lucía López Rúa Páramo, Marketing Director of Heineken Spain. With 150 years of history, the company continues to reinvent itself, being the second largest beer producer in the world by volume of revenue.

"We are still navigating the crisis and preparing for the future," said López Rúa Páramo, however assuring that they have become stronger in terms of ways of working, more collaborative and flexible. "We have a hard 2022 ahead of us. We will be on a positive horizon in 2023, " he predicts.

From the beginning of the pandemic, Heineken showed its strong support for hospitality with various initiatives and campaigns. A good example is #FUERZABAR, through which a total contribution equivalent to more than 15 million Cruzcampo and Amstel rods was made available to customers.

Heineken commits digital training zero emissions year 2025

Through the collaborative platform it was possible to pay in advance cañas, benefiting the recovery of the restoration. From Aula Abierta, Heineken provided training for the hospitality industry to digitize, access consulting or consult video pills and live webinars.

"We even did a very creative campaign where we diverted investment in traditional media to the blinds of closed bars."

After the pandemic the scenario will be better, with a much more digitized hospitality, professional, focused on reinventing itself through innovation and committed to sustainability:"The consumer is much more sensitive to the environment and seeks healthy proposals". And he highlighted the rise of proximity trade and an increase in the frequency of purchase.

The big challenge is sustainability: already in 2020 Heineken managed to get 75% of its raw materials from sustainable crops. But the ambition goes much further: it wants to be the first zero-emission brewery by 2025.

"We want to be the greenest brewer. By 2040, we want to be absolutely carbon neutral across the value chain. Already in 2025 we will make all production zero emissions." In Jaén they have achieved a milestone, as it is the first brewery that fulfills this purpose.

Heineken commits digital training zero emissions year 2025

They also work with 100% renewable energy in factories and want packaging to be 100% circular, using as much recycled material as possible. And be totally neutral in water.

To modernize even more, Heineken has signed an alliance with IBM, which allows them to improve aspects such as logistics, employee training or the digitization of hospitality.

Lucía López-Rua Páramo stressed the strong importance of innovation: Heineken has turned the original Cruzcampo factory into a social space for brewing, innovation and talent development: youth employability is promoted there and up to 30 types of beer (400,000 beers per year) will be manufactured, some of them in limited batches.

It will also offer visits, tastings, training and promotion of craft beer, an emerging trend in our country. The following participant of the XVII Smart Business Meeting spoke with first-hand knowledge about this: Kevin Patricio, CEO and co-founder of Basqueland.

When they started, the consumption of craft beer was really residual in Spain: in the last decade, consumption has multiplied by 2 and there has also been a great leap in quality.

Heineken commits digital training zero emissions year 2025

The co-founder of Basqueland stressed that, of every 100 beers consumed, 1 is already artisanal. In the United Kingdom, the market share is 10% and in the United States, it is already one fifth. Patricio sets the goal for Spain at a 5% market share in the next decade.

"We produce few liters per year compared to industrial beer, but we have more agile processes, less bureaucracy and we can launch new products," he explained. And he highlighted the collaboration with other craft beer producers, especially to attract consumers.

There are many challenges at an economic level, among them, the price of beer and the boost to the hospitality industry. "The government must help bars much more. We are losing faucets, refrigerators, consumers and ambassadors." Another essential challenge is business management. "We have launched a project to share an ERP [planning and resource management tool] with other hoteliers and they can improve, focusing on brewing rich beer".

He also looks to the future with optimism since everything indicates that fermented drink will continue to play a key role in the leisure of Spanish society.