On 6 September 2018, nine Flemish brewers signed a ‘Green Deal’ with Flemish Minister of Environment, Nature and Agriculture, Joke Schauvliege, together with the Belgian Brewers and Fevia Vlaanderen.

The breweries committed themselves to work for four years on a further increase in the sustainability of their water use. The ultimate goal of the project is to use water more sustainably and reduce water consumption per liter of beer produced.

With this ‘Green Deal’ they want to strengthen and emphasize the sector’s commitment. The breweries are assisted in this exercise by the Flemish Environment Agency, the Environment Department and the Flemish Water Knowledge Centre (Vlakwa).

Together, the partners are forming a learning network that tackles bottlenecks in reducing water consumption. The breweries learn from each other’s experiences how best to save and recuperate water.

In the meantime, anno 2020, thirteen breweries are involved in this project: AB InBev, Alken-Maes, Cornelissen, De Halve Maan, Duvel Moortgat, Haacht, Het Anker, Huyghe, Verhaeghe, Trappisten van Westmalle, Van Honsebrouck, Van Steenberge, Palm.

How the Green Deal can have a strong impact thanks to the interaction between the different brewers you can hear here from Jef Cornelissen, CEO of Brewery Cornelissen.