Responsible consumption, society and minimizing the environmental impact are priorities! Kompania Piwowarska’s new CSR report.

Reaching nearly 5 million people with messages about responsible alcohol consumption, the lowest level of water consumption in the industry, 99% of recycled waste, and PLN 1 million for local projects are just some of the activities Kompania Piwowarska presents in its Sustainable Development Report for 2018. 

The 11th edition of Kompania Piwowarska’s Sustainable Development Report is an opportunity to summarize sustainable development activities of the leader of the brewing industry in Poland. This time KP compares its activities to the UN sustainable development objectives adopted in 2015, pointing to the specific tasks to which the Brewery’s activity contributes.

– In the report we use UN’s objectives as the starting point for the presentation of our sustainable development activities, rather than, as previously, our strategy. We are aware that sustainable development requires a joint effort and coherent action in many areas, including public health, economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection. The overriding goal is to build a better world and in 2015 the UN showed, also to us, how we should do it – comments Grzegorz Adamski, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development Manager at Kompania Piwowarska.

The CSR report for 2018 shows our company’s contribution to the achievement of 13 out of 17 UN sustainable development objectives. Kompania Piwowarska’s sustainable development strategy focuses on three areas: products and health; people and society; and the environment. Within these areas the company implements, among others, programs promoting responsible alcohol consumption, takes care of local communities, and provides excellent working and development conditions for its employees, saves water and energy, and ensures almost 100% recycling of its waste and by-products. 

The following examples selected from the Report illustrate the real effects of the company’s activities related to Sustainability Development Targets (Agenda 2030).

For years, Kompania Piwowarska has been trying to prevent negative phenomena stemming from alcohol consumption and road accidents. These actions are aligned with two of the UN’s objectives for sustainable development on health (SDG 3). Last year a massive 273,000 people were engaged in responsibility related programs pursued by Kompania Piwowarska, such as  Check your BAC, where 85,000 people have had themselves tested with breathalyzers. The company also developed the segment of non-alcoholic beers – with a nearly 85% increase in sales of this type of beer, which is a good alternative for people who do not want to or should not consume alcohol.

Kompania Piwowarska also pursues the task of increasing the number of adults with appropriate professional qualifications, which is part of UN’s Objective 4 related to good quality education.  All Kompania Piwowarska employees undergo various types of training improving their qualifications. Last year, each employee spent on average 3.7 days in training rooms. 

As far as UN’s Objective 5, the leader of the brewing industry in Poland continues in its efforts to eliminate discrimination against women and provide them with equal opportunities in leadership positions. The company is one of 14 companies which in 2012 were the first in Poland to sign the Diversity Charter. The result of these activities, among others, is that 32.2% of people employed in managerial positions in the so-called male industry are women, and the gender pay gap in Kompania Piwowarska is within +2% to -3%, which in practice means that the salaries of women and men in KP are equal.   

Objective 11 is about sustainable cities and communities. Here too, Kompania Piwowarska has been implementing programs for local communities for several years. Its flagship project is LECHSTARTER – sponsored by Lech brand. In 2018, as part of this initiative, the company granted a massive PLN 1 million to projects submitted by local communities. 

UN’s Objective 6 is focused on ensuring access to water and sanitation through sustainable management of water resources. The result of Kompania Piwowarska’s efforts last year is the best result in the industry in terms of water usage for beer production – 2.64 hl of water per 1 hl of beer. This result puts the company among the leaders in water saving not only in Poland, but also in the world. Kompania Piwowarska also maintains a low carbon footprint related to CO2 emissions per hl of beer (6.63 kg) despite an increase in beer production at its breweries. The company also fully monitors the amount and parameters of generated wastewater and strictly observes the rules of its treatment before it is reintroduced into the environment. 

Kompania Piwowarska wants to significantly reduce the level of waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling, and reuse. Regarding UN’s 12th Objective on responsible consumption and production, the company recycled almost all of its breweries’ by-products and waste (99.65%). It uses returnable packaging on a mass scale, and in returnable bottles it sold 46% of its beer last year.  

Kompania Piwowarska has been publishing Sustainable Development Reports since 2009. The last report was prepared on the basis of the international reporting standard Global Reporting Initiative in the version GRI Standards 2016 (Core level) and covers the entire calendar year, i.e. the period from 1 January to 31 December 2018. The report also includes information such as the impact of the company’s operations on the national economy in key areas, such as the labor market or state budget revenues. 

The full version of the report is available at:

https://www.kp.pl/files/Kompania-Piwowarska-Raport-zrownowazonego-rozwoju-za-2018.pdf

We encourage you to have a read of it!