Carlsberg Malaysia launched its new Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) programme, Together Towards ZERO and Beyond (TTZAB) with additional two priorities and revised targets, reaffirming the brewer’s commitment towards its purpose of ‘Brewing for a better today and tomorrow’.
These refined priorities include a roadmap to achieve net zero carbon emissions across the entire value chain by 2040, from the barley in the fields to the beer in hand. Pledging support towards the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), the brewers’ ESG ambition of TTZAB is also an evolution of the Group’s previous ESG programme of Together Towards ZERO (TTZ).
Since then, the brewer has made strides in delivering its commitment, including 73% reduction in carbon emissions and 31% reduction in water use per hectolitre of beer brewed this year against 2015, as well as advocated responsible consumption to over 10,000 consumers and achieved over 1,300 days of Lost-Time Accidents-free over the last three years.
The expanded TTZAB programme includes a wider array of ESG priorities to address the societal challenges impacting people and communities where Carlsberg operates, in addition to addressing climate change. It now focuses on achieving six ZEROs, which are categorised into ZERO Carbon Footprint, ZERO Farming Footprint, ZERO Packaging Waste, ZERO Water Waste, ZERO Irresponsible Drinking and ZERO Accidents Culture. These priorities support the brewer’s transformation towards more sustainable business practices and reaffirm its commitment to the collective action needed on the ESG areas that matter the most to the brewer and its key stakeholders.
“As we are celebrating the very first Carlsberg beer brewed locally 50 years ago, we are pleased to launch TTZAB and pledge our support towards Malaysia’s Net Zero Emissions ambition by 2050 and the 12th Malaysia Plan: Advancing Sustainability by 2025. Our aim is to enable consumers to enjoy a great beer whilst leaving the smallest carbon footprint possible. To do this, we leave no stone unturned, from the grains and water that we brew with, to the recycling of empty bottles and cans once you’ve enjoyed your beer. This is the right thing to do, for our business and for society,” stated Stefano Clini, Managing Director of Carlsberg Malaysia.
To date, Carlsberg Malaysia has made significant progress with improvements within the ZERO Carbon Footprint focus area, achieving 73% reduction in carbon emissions since 2015. Some green investments made recently include the purchase of 18 fully electric forklifts to replace the diesel-powered and LPG units with a potential carbon emissions reduction of 194,000kg/year, and the purchase of I-REC to deliver 100% renewable electricity at the brewery. In addition, there is also zero use of coal at the brewery, using only natural gas and biogas from its Wastewater Treatment Plant, and an on-target schedule to achieve zero waste to landfills by the end of 2022 via the recycling of its
spent yeast, wastewater sludge and kieselguhr.
On the ZERO Packaging Waste front, 92% of returnable glass bottles in Peninsular Malaysia are reused or recycled under the Distributor Return Scheme, equivalent to about 100,000 bottles a day.
Additionally, 100% of the cans, shrink and stretch wraps and corrugated cardboards disposed of in the brewery are recycled. Its switch to Cradle-to-Cradle Certified environment-friendly inks on its bottle labels also improves the recyclability of the packaging, with more innovations underway.
The ZERO Water Waste initiative has also seen a 31% reduction in water usage since 2015, which equates to 96 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Collective efforts and disciplined implementation of #CELEBRATERESPONSIBLY campaign to achieve ZERO irresponsible drinking incidents and 100% responsible drinking messaging on its product packaging, website, social media platforms, brand activations, as well as partnerships with e-hailing operators and business partners to advocate responsible consumption and offering alcohol-free brews such as Somersby 0.0 sparkling juice are well on track to deliver our ZERO Irresponsible Drinking commitment.
Last but not least, Carlsberg’s ZERO Accidents Culture, which focuses on the welfare and safety of employees, has seen an achievement of more than 1,300 days of ZERO Lost-Time Accidents since January 2019 and counting. Safe and Defensive Driving training have successfully helped reduce on-the-road accidents by 72% this year as compared to last year. In addition, the brewer also introduced the BrightMile app which helps employees adopt safe driving behaviours and reduce driving risks. The brewer also enforced strict COVID-19 prevention measures, including mandatory weekly on-site swab tests administered by medical officers since 2021.
These efforts proved to be effective as there has not been any COVID-19 clusters reported in Carlsberg Malaysia so far.
TTZAB is the brewer’s response to global challenges such as inequality, climate change and water scarcity, as well as society’s increasing focus on health and well-being. Consequently, in pursuit of TTZAB’s targets, Carlsberg is working to manage its most material business impacts responsibly, while taking actions that contribute positively to society.
