Prioritizing Sustainability Means Prioritizing Our Business, People and Planet

For Anheuser-Busch, to say that operating sustainably is a priority is an understatement, as high-quality products go hand-in-hand with a healthy planet. As America’s leading brewer, we have the capabilities and expertise to make a big impact with a small footprint, and we’ve been doing just that since we were founded more than 160 years ago. Today, through our global ambition to achieve net-zero by 2040, we continue to invest to grow our quality ingredients, brew our beer, and deliver our products in a way that leaves our planet and the communities we serve better than we found them. 

But the real power of Anheuser-Busch isn’t only what we can do on our own, it’s the greater impact we have when we engage our network of partners and work together. When I think about our network, it certainly includes farmers, suppliers, retailers and wholesalers, all of which we’ve worked closely with to integrate cutting-edge sustainable solutions throughout our supply chain.  

• To cultivate more sustainable crops and ingredients, we’re partnering with barley farmers to adopt regenerative growing practices and provide tools to ensure our farmer partners have the skills, technology and financial support to invest in sustainable production.  
• By partnering with renewable energy leaders at the national, regional, and local level, we have added new renewable electricity capacity to the grid to support the growth of the renewable energy economy and brew our entire portfolio of domestic products with 100% renewable electricity — a goal we were able to achieve four years ahead of schedule.   
• Our commitment to a more circular and sustainable food chain is embodied by our EverGrain facility in St. Louis that is repurposing the grains we use in the brewing process to create high-quality barley-based food ingredients.  
• Together with our more than 400 independent wholesaler partners, we are investing in innovative battery-electric and hydrogen-electric technologies to convert the trucks we use to ship our products to zero-emission vehicles.  

But our network also includes our consumers – the millions of adults across the U.S. who enjoy our beers and other beverages.  

It’s no secret that consumers expect and appreciate when companies like Anheuser-Busch invest in and integrate sustainable solutions into our operations. At Anheuser-Busch, our goal is to exceed those expectations. That’s why we’re approaching sustainability with an innovation mindset, because we know that when we challenge our people to do something that’s never been done before, they rise to the challenge.   

I challenged our teams to come up with new ways to involve our ENTIRE network – including our consumers – in operating sustainably. I wanted us to collaborate not only with our innovative partners, but also our portfolio of brands and network of consumers to create meaningful change together. And I’m proud to say, they delivered.  

Just last week, we launched the National Recycling League – a multi-sports league coalition uniting Anheuser-Busch brands, team partners, and sports fans nationwide around a shared goal of less game-day waste. This is the type of coalition only we can do because of our consumers, our partners and our reach. The city of the participating team that has the highest recycling rate at home games through the end of May will receive a round of beer on us. 

And, one of our newest brand innovations, Bud Light NEXT, is now Climate Neutral Certified. This is an important sustainability achievement that one of our leading brands is celebrating by purchasing all electricity at this year’s League of Legends Championship series in Houston from clean, renewable sources.  

I’m proud of these initiatives because they represent what we do best: using our unique capabilities – be it our brands, our partnerships, our know-how, and our consumers – to create an outsized impact. Sustainable innovation is more than what we manage and control within our own operating footprint – it’s working with partners from seed to sip to share not only what we have, but to tackle challenges together. 

When it comes to sustainability our vision is clear: together we can go farther. The best is yet to come and we hope other industry leaders will join us to ensure a future with more cheers for everyone.