The United Nations Global Compact has just launched a new podcast, Moving Business Forward Faster. Sonia Thimmiah, the Sustainability Director at Heineken, was the guest invited to the inaugural episode. She joined Adam Roy Gordon, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network USA, for a conversation on sustainable business practices.
See the post:
https://plnk.to/moving-business-ff?to=page
Sonia Thimmiah explains that the concept of “water positivity” sounds good, but credibility comes from concrete measurement and methodology to prove you are actually giving back more water than you are using. Water positivity is a key target for Heineken. They believe it can only be achieved through collective action. Therefore, Heineken is encouraging other companies to join initiatives like the UN Global Compact’s “Forward Faster” movement to work towards water positivity through collaboration and leveraging shared resources. In essence, while water positivity is an important ambition, it requires robust measurement, assessment and transparency from companies to show tangible progress towards giving back more water than they use. Collaborative initiatives create accountability and enable sharing of knowledge, tools and resources to accelerate progress. Heineken stresses that no single company can become water positive alone – it requires a critical mass working together to drive change across industries and geographies, especially sharing learnings from those operating in water stressed regions.
Summary: Driving Collective Water Stewardship – Heineken Podcast Takeaways
- Measurement of water use and impacts is important. However, this alone is not enough; it must drive action and governance changes in order to create impact. Heineken has robust sustainability governance structures in place for this purpose. These include a Supervisory Board sustainability committee and executive sustainability committee that meet regularly to track progress and address issues.
- Reporting credibility and transparency is also vital. Heineken supplements its public annual reporting with additional disclosures through third party assessments and disclosure platforms like CDP.
- The biggest challenge Heineken faces regarding water resilience is the accelerating pace of global water stress. They estimate the number of their facilities in water stressed regions will double by 2050. Addressing this requires proactive planning even for facilities not currently at risk.
- When deciding where to build new breweries, factors like current and future projected water stress are integrated into business planning processes and help determine appropriate locations and technologies.
- Finally, no single company can address global water challenges alone; collective action is crucial. Heineken encourages peer companies to join collaborative initiatives like the UN Global Compact’s “Forward Faster” to leverage shared resources and accelerate progress through industry-wide learnings and accountability.
In summary, Heineken focuses on governance, measurement, transparency and collaboration to drive proactive innovation and resilience planning across its operations, supply chain and surrounding communities when it comes to water stewardship.