Asahi Beverages has unveiled a new sustainability agenda, aiming to use its significant scale to create a more sustainable future for Australia and New Zealand.
The agenda introduces new targets, while incorporating previously announced ones, all of whichit says will help to protect the planet, and build a more sustainable business.
It says that Asahi Beverages brands – from Cool Ridge water and Schweppes soft drinks, to VB and Carlton beers – will be "even stronger" because of the company’s upgraded commitments.
The new agenda covers sustainable packaging, climate change, and the circular economy. The list of new targets includes:
- All packaging will be 100 per cent recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025;
- Transition to 100 per cent eco-friendly (either compostable, bio-based or made from 100 per cent recycled content) materials for PET bottles by 2030;
- Zero waste to landfill at its manufacturing sites and warehouses by 2030;
- Reduce Scope 3 CO2 emissions by 30 per cent by 2030, and to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 through engagement with its suppliers – from farmers to packaging companies to logistics; and
- Source 100 per cent of its purchased electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
“Sustainability is a core business for Asahi Beverages, and these targets will help us create an entirely sustainable business that will produce some of Australia and New Zealand’s favourite beverages for the next 200 years and beyond,” said Robert Iervasi, Asahi Beverages Group CEO.
“We are determined to do much more than make vague and distant promises that gather dust. That’s why we’ve already made some important, transformative, and tangible changes to become more sustainable.
“We want our employees, customers and consumers to know that when they make or buy our products, they’re supporting a more sustainable future for Australia and New Zealand.”
Asahi Beverages claims it has already taken an industry-leading sustainability position, which includes forming a JV to build a PET recycling plant in Albury, NSW that will proves around one billion plastic bottles; and its Cool Ridge water bottles now being made with 100 per cent recycled PET.
“It’s fantastic to see a member of both APCO and the Anzpac Plastics Pact showing strong leadership in such a critical area,” said Brooke Donnelly, CEO at the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO).
She said, “Achieving the 2025 National Packaging Targets is one of the most crucial sustainability goals facing the industry in Australia, and it is vital that our biggest and most influential companies step up and make sustainable packaging a priority.
“As one of the largest beverage companies in the region, it’s so pleasing to see Asahi Beverages not only making a firm commitment for a sustainable future, but also already rolling out exactly the kind of packaging initiatives we need to see across the industry moving forward.”
The company has also recently installed what it says is the largest solar project at any Australian brewery in Queensland, to help it achieve its target to source all electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
It has also started beer deliveries via electric trucks with Linfox, to help it achieve its target of reducing carbon emissions along its supply chain by 30 per cent by 2030.
