Diageo Plc said it will spend £180m ($220m) in green energy and water recovery solutions to ensure its breweries are the most carbon and water-efficient possible.
“We believe this is one of the biggest single investments in addressing climate change issues across multiple sub-Saharan markets. We have a responsibility as a local manufacturer and employer in Africa to grow our business sustainably–creating shared value-and this significant investment continues our work to provide sustainable solutions for our local supply chains,” Ivan Menezes, Diageo’s CEO said.
The company said it will switch to renewable energy at three brewery sites in Kenya and Uganda. New biomass boilers will be installed to replace systems that use heavy fuel oil.
The boilers will use sustainable fuel alternatives such as wood chip, bamboo, and rice husks to create steam power for the breweries, reducing carbon emissions by 42,000 tonnes.
In addition, it will install new water recovery, purification and reuse facilities across five sites in Africa, including Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, saving over two billion cubic litres of water a year.
The ambitious plan will cover 11 sites in seven countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Seychelles, Nigeria and Ghana.
In Kenya, Diageo’s brand new brewery Kisumu has already had solar power and water treatment facilities installed to ensure its operations have minimal impact from their start.
READ: Kenya Breweries Awarded as the Most Energy Efficient Industry in 2019
Diageo Chief Executive, Ivan Menezes, added “We’ve set ourselves ambitious environmental targets, aligned with the United Nations global SDGs, and our efforts to deliver on these by 2020 continues at pace. Progress has included a 45% reduction in our carbon emissions and a 44% reduction in our water consumption over the past decade, while we also now look to the future and how we extend beyond 2020 with this investment.”
