Heineken Hosts Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable

May 14, 2013 /3BL Media/ - Beverage industry leaders from across the globe will convene in Amsterdam May 14-16 for the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) semi-annual meeting. BIER is a technical coalition of leading beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector. HEINEKEN, headquartered in Amsterdam and BIER member since 2010, will play host to the event that will bring together representatives across beer, spirits, carbonated soft drinks, juice and bottled water categories. The three-day agenda will focus on BIER’s work to reduce resource consumption, mitigate impacts and ensure the sustainable continuity and future of the beverage sector.

Vera Zandbergen, HEINEKEN’s Manager Global Sustainable Development comments: “We are very pleased to be welcoming representatives from the key global beverage companies to our historic brewery in the heart of Amsterdam. BIER provides a unique opportunity for members to share best practices and to challenge perspectives about environmental sustainability across our industry. BIER encourages collaborative action on the sustainability dimensions most relevant to the beverage sector and it helps to keep our joint agenda focused. We are looking forward to a productive meeting.”

One of the ways BIER aims to bring about positive beverage sector environmental change is through engagement with key stakeholders. In Amsterdam, stakeholders from Sustainable Agriculture Initiative and Unilever will share insights and best practices around sustainable agriculture applications and driving sustainable practices through the supply chain. Through this collaborative approach, BIER seeks to accelerate the process of analysis to sustainable solutions, in turn, raising the bar for environmental performance of the beverage sector.

Current BIER initiatives include defining context-based metrics for water use and efficiency benchmarking, developing energy assessment tools to help prioritize and mitigate climate change impacts across the beverage industry supply chain, and establishing better understanding of beverage container recycling rates worldwide.

About BIER

The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) is a technical coalition of leading global beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector. By accelerating the process of analysis to sustainable solutions, BIER aims to affect sector change through work focused on water stewardship, energy efficiency and climate change. BIER members include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Bacardi, Beam, Brown-Forman, Carlsberg, The Coca-Cola Company, Danone Waters, Diageo, Diversey, Ecolab, Heineken, MillerCoors, MolsonCoors, Nestle Waters North America, New Belgium Brewing Company, Ocean Spray Cranberries, PepsiCo, Pernod Ricard, SABMiller, and Sun Orchard. For more information, visit www.bieroundtable.com.

About Heineken

HEINEKEN is a proud, independent global brewer committed to surprise and excite consumers with its brands and products everywhere. The brand that bears the founder's family name - Heineken® - is available in almost every country on the globe and is the world's most valuable international premium beer brand. The Company's aim is to be a leading brewer in each of the markets in which it operates and to have the world's most valuable brand portfolio. HEINEKEN wants to win in all markets with Heineken® and with a full brand portfolio in markets of choice. The Company is present in over 70 countries and operates more than 165 breweries with volume of 221 million hectoliters of group beer sold. HEINEKEN is Europe's largest brewer and the world's third largest by volume. HEINEKEN is committed to the responsible marketing and consumption of its more than 250 international premium, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. These include Heineken®, Amstel, Anchor, Biere Larue, Bintang, Birra Moretti, Cruzcampo, Desperados, Dos Equis, Foster's, Newcastle Brown Ale, Ochota, Primus, Sagres, Sol, Star, Strongbow, Tecate, Tiger and Zywiec. Our leading joint venture brands include Cristal and Kingfisher. Pro forma 2012 revenue totalled €19,765 million and EBIT (beia) €3,151 million. The number of people employed is over 85,000. Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares are listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbols HEIA NA and HEIO NA and on the Reuter Equities 2000 Service under HEIN.AS and HEIO.AS. Most recent information is available on HEINEKEN's website: www.theHEINEKENcompany.com.