HEINEKEN brew master looking to take brewery emissions to zero

Meet Andreas Werner, one of our brew masters, as he shows you around the brewery he is working hard to make C02-neutral. Watch our sustainability priorities in action and learn more about some of the initiatives we are putting in place to reduce our impact on the environment.

Here at HEINEKEN, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have an organisation full of people who are genuinely passionate about what we do, and who are working hard to create real sustainable value through our Brewing a Better Future Programme (BaBF).

At the Brau Union brewery in Göss home of Austria’s famous Gösser beer, one man is making it his mission to make the brewery C02 neutral - a first for HEINEKEN. Andreas Werner, who has been the brew master at Göss for over ten years, is working with his team to introduce innovative, sustainable approaches to reduce the brewery’s greenhouse gas emissions to zero and to make the brewery 100% self-sufficient. Watch this brewery in action here, and see our sustainability priorities come to life.

As a leading global company, we know how important it is to reduce our C02 emissions so have set a clear target of cutting emissions by 40% by 2020. We are constantly investing and innovating to find new ways to achieve this target, and the Göss brewery demonstrates how we have motivated our teams behind our commitment.  This isn’t always an easy thing to achieve in a global company, so if you would like to learn more about how we have achieved such a high level of sustainability motivation across our organisation, why not read this piece by our Chief Corporate Relations Officer, Sean O’Neill.

Let’s now take a closer look at some of the specific initiatives Andreas Werner and his team have put in place at the Göss Brewery.

Reusing Waste Heat
Andreas and his team have demonstrated how well we are able to work with local partners towards our sustainability commitments. The brewery is located close to a saw mill and the Göss brewery now uses the waste heat discharged from the saw business to generate around 40% of its heat requirements. Additionally, 90% of waste heat generated within the brewing process is re-used towards the brewery’s heat requirements.

Boiling System
A vapour compressor was at the end of its lifetime at the brewery. Rather than replacing it with a new one, the entire boiling system was re-evaluated and the decision made to add a new Rectification Wort Boiling system. The new system, installed with little need for structural alterations, reduces both energy and water consumption.

Solar Thermal Plant
Occupying an area of around 1400m², the solar thermal plant at Göss generates almost 30% of the thermal energy required for the mashing process. It produces energy of around 400 MWh/a, generating savings of more than 95 tons of CO2 per year. A 200 cubic metre energy storage tank uses technology that allows excess thermal energy to be collected and saved for future use, ensuring a continued energy supply for the operation of the brewhouse.

Renewable Energy
Around 50-55% of energy consumed by the Göss Brewery is renewable thermal energy. Additionally, 100% of external power used in the brewery is through green electricity, as is the case in all breweries operated by Brau Union Österreich.

Learn more
If you would like to learn more about HEINEKEN’s sustainability targets, and how we are working to achieve them, please come have a read of our Brewing a Better Future Programme (BaBF) and 2013 Sustainability Report. Not only does it set out in more detail the priorities we are working towards, but it also gives the opportunity to read about some of the other innovative sustainability initiatives we have put in place across our business.

Brewing a Better Future: It is HEINEKEN's strategy for creating shared, sustainable value: for our company, for society and for the planet. And it is fundamental to how we do business. Developed with our stakeholders and based on insight into global trends, our strategy focuses on the four areas where we can make the biggest difference: water, CO2, local sourcing and responsible consumption. These are underpinned by our values and behaviours: living our values, leading by example, and working together to make a difference.