At Asahi Europe and International (AEI), we made long-term commitments to achieve carbon neutrality in our breweries by 2030 and work with partners to cut our carbon footprint by 30% across the whole supply chain.
We wanted to make a difference in Poland, which has Europe’s largest carbon footprint in terms of electricity supply, relying heavily on coal and gas. AEI has a presence in Poland through its local company Kompania Piwowarska (KP), which owns three breweries with a rich heritage: Tyskie Browary Książęce (1629), the Dojlidy Brewery in Białystok (1768) and Lech Browary Wielkopolski in Poznań (1895). We employ more than 2,600 people in Poland and we are the leading Polish producer of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer. We knew our action would have a big impact environmentally and advance the wider sustainability agenda in central and eastern Europe.
In 2019, KP signed a 10-year contract to switch to 100% renewable electricity for all breweries from electricity wind farms in northern Poland. Our partner, RWE Renewables, has now built three additional wind turbines in Nowy Staw, near Gdańsk, delivering 12 MW of additional renewable electricity capacity in Poland.
In 2021, after only two years of collaboration, 100% of KP’s production was supported by renewable electricity. This simple step has also enabled KP’s breweries to reduce carbon emissions by 66% compared to 2019.
Combined with actions AEI is taking across Europe – including Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania – one out of two AEI beers today is produced with green electricity.