HEINEKEN Hungária 'Net Zero Production” Program Awarded

The Business Council for Sustainable Development in Hungary (BCSDH) has awarded HEINEKEN Hungária a sustainability prize for its carbon reduction program, the company announced in a press release. HEINEKEN Hungária won the award in the Climate Protection and Adaptation Category thanks to a technology that is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 1,400 tons per year at its brewery in Sopron, contributing significantly to achieving net zero carbon emissions.

For HEINEKEN Hungária, sustainable and responsible operation is one of its most important strategic principles. As part of this, the Sopron brewery is switching to a partially renewable heat energy supply, thereby contributing significantly to the company's goal for 2030: to reduce carbon emissions from direct operations and purchased energy to net zero. The group's Net Zero Production energy saving program pursues the same goals on a global level, and the Hungarian brewery is one of the pioneering HEINEKEN plants where implementation is already underway, which has now been confirmed by a prestigious professional award.

The BCSDH is a community of more than 150 CEOs who are working together to accelerate the transformation of the economy for a climate-neutral, sustainable future. The jury awarded the Sustainable Future Award, established by the organization, to HEINEKEN Hungary in 2025 in the Business Solutions category for the carbon neutrality program of HEINEKEN's brewery in Sopron.

To achieve its sustainability goals, HEINEKEN is working with Siemens on several energy projects on an international scale and in the long term. As part of this partnership, an energy recovery system has been created, thanks to which the waste heat generated during beer production in the fermentation tanks is fed back into the packaging plant and used for heating instead of steam from a natural gas-fired thermal power plant. As part of the investment, a high-performance heat pump system will also be installed, which will use 12.8 GWh of thermal energy extracted from the fermenter to produce hot water, thus ensuring that the packaging process is carbon neutral.

As a result of the investment, carbon dioxide emissions at HEINEKEN Hungária's Sopron brewery will be reduced by 37% by 2025 and 54% by 2026 compared to the 2022 base year. The brewery's energy consumption is expected to decrease by 12% by 2025 and by 23% by 2026 compared to the base year of 2022.

Nikos Zois, CEO of HEINEKEN Hungária, emphasized in connection with the award: "Our brewery in Sopron, which is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, was one of the first HEINEKEN breweries to enter the implementation phase of carbon reduction investments, which are essential for achieving our sustainability goals. This large-scale, multi-year project clearly demonstrates that our sustainability investments, which form the basis of our strategy, are deeply embedded in our business activities and operational processes."