SABMiller publishes progress against sustainability targets

SABMiller hits local sourcing target for Africa a year early.

Absolute water use cut by 16%, absolute carbon emissions cut by 26% since 2008, despite volume growth

SABMiller plc, one of the world’s largest brewers, today publishes details of its progress and performance on sustainable development over the last year.

* The company’s Africa division sourced 52% of its agricultural raw materials from within Africa, achieving its target of 50% a year early.

* In 2008 SABMiller was one of the first global brewers to publish a water efficiency target – to reduce water use per litre of beer by 25% by 2015 from 4.6 to 3.5 litres. In 2012/13 the company used an average of 3.7 litres of water per litre of beer, an 8% improvement on the previous year. Since 2008 the company has reduced its absolute water use by 16% despite an increase in production volumes.

* The business has also reduced its CO2e emissions per litre of beer by 10% compared to the previous year. In absolute terms, carbon emissions dropped by 26% between 2008 and 2013. Its target is to reduce fossil fuel emissions by 50% per litre of beer produced by 2020, compared to 2008.

* Around the world, the company has over 100 programmes to address the harmful use of alcohol and promote responsible drinking and, in the past three years, 76% of employees received alcohol responsibility training.

* This year SABMiller – including its foundations – invested over US$6 million in programmes to foster entrepreneurial activity worldwide.

Alan Clark, SABMiller CEO said: “Forward-thinking businesses must show leadership on resource issues, because efficient use of shared resources underpins our future growth. We set ourselves deliberately stretching targets which go beyond that which we believe to be immediately achievable. This makes it all the more rewarding when we make significant progress and, as in the case with Africa’s local sourcing, hit these targets ahead of time.”

One of SABMiller’s strategic priorities is to ‘Constantly raise the profitability of local businesses, sustainably’. The company’s approach is underpinned by ten sustainable development priorities, which inform how efforts are focused and resources prioritised.

Performance and progress against these priorities are measured through SABMiller’s Sustainability Assessment Matrix (SAM). Each business within the group is assessed against a series of criteria which includes both quantitative and qualitative measurements; the results of which are published in an interactive format on http://www.sabmiller.com/index.asp?pageid=4 allowing for greater insight and scrutiny into the sustainability performance of its businesses around the world. The overall performance against each priority area is measured on a scale from one to five, with one being the minimum standard and five being world class – this year the average group SAM score increased from 3.2 to 3.3, the sixth year of continual improvement.

The report can be viewed here