NETHERLANDS – Heineken has named Siemens as its chosen partner for the implementation of its global Net Zero Production roadmap.
The partnership will focus on a comprehensive decarbonization program, with Siemens utilizing solutions and services from its Siemens Xcelerator portfolio.
Over 15 Heineken beer and malt production sites worldwide, spanning Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and Europe, will benefit from Siemens’ expertise in optimizing energy usage.
This collaboration underscores Heineken’s commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 across all production sites by 2030.
The initiative kicked off with an initial project encompassing consulting, auditing, and advisory services. Siemens employed an innovative energy digital twin to simulate and analyze a typical Heineken brewery virtually.
The simulation revealed that approximately 70 percent of energy use was linked to the generation of heating and cooling essential for the brewing process.
Dolf van den Brink, CEO and chairperson of the executive board for Heineken, said, “As we continue to focus on the delivery of our journey to reach net zero in Scope 1 & 2, we know that we must make many bold and ambitious moves to decarbonize our global operations.
Undertaking these challenges with partners like Siemens allows us to bring in technical expertise and industry knowledge to innovate quickly and at scale.”
Siemens estimates that optimizing and monitoring cooling and heating systems through an end-to-end program will result in energy savings of 15-20 percent at each site and an average CO2 reduction of 50 percent.
To achieve these ambitious targets, Siemens will deploy scalable and replicable solutions across Heineken’s global production sites.
The plan involves electrifying the production of heat and cooling using heat pumps powered by renewable energy, reducing reliance on steam generated by fossil fuels. The system’s performance will be monitored, controlled, and optimized through Siemens Cooling Plant Optimization algorithms.
Matthias Rebellius, managing board member for Siemens and CEO of Smart Infrastructure, said, “By collaborating on an end-to-end program, we’re able to combine hardware, software, and analytics to predict and deliver the long-term results which are now crucial to every industry.”
As part of the long-term partnership, Siemens will also deliver a five-year performance and monitoring contract, connecting the breweries to Siemens systems for remote monitoring of production sites, ensuring optimal operations.
Heineken’s dedication to concrete actions to reduce carbon emissions is evident in its achievements. By the end of 2022, the company had already reduced total carbon emissions on scopes 1 and 2 by 18% since 2018, with a 58% increase in renewable electricity consumption.
The approval of Heineken’s net-zero and FLAG (Forest, Land, and Agriculture) targets by the Science Based Targets initiative in 2023 further solidifies its position as the first global brewer to reach this sustainability milestone.
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