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Taking responsibility for people and nature
The energy-intensive processes of malting and brewing as well as water consumption for rinsing and cleaning processes are often the focus of attention. The cost pressure in the production of beer has been weighing heavily on malting plants and breweries not only since the current energy crisis; efficiency measures to reduce energy and water consumption are therefore almost exhausted. Countless projects and environmental certifications testify to how much the brewing industry has invested and achieved in recent years.
For some time now, there has been a social and political reorientation towards more biodiversity and sustainability. It is no longer just the processes in the "environmentally friendly brewery" that are being considered, but also the upstream and downstream economic circles, from raw material production to logistics.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are 17 interlinked global goals established in 2015 by the United Nations General AssemblyHolistic approach necessary
Social issues are also gaining importance in the context of the health debate and demographic change. Government and private sector initiatives to regulate the availability or advertising and even the consumption of alcoholic beverages are already being implemented and are putting the brewing industry and beer in the spotlight.
Finally, politics - not least through the voluntary commitment to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations - is also narrowing the legal framework and forcing companies to act more sustainably. The new Packaging Act (VerpackG), which has been in force since January 2019, is a shining example of this.
Today, it is essential for companies to take a holistic view of the topic of sustainability and to interlink and weigh up the numerous ecological, social and also economic topics.
Development of an efficient sustainability strategy
But how can the broad field of sustainability be implemented systematically and at a reasonable cost in the medium-sized brewing industry? How can employees be inspired? Which topics are really relevant for the brewing industry? And can the successes achieved be credibly communicated internally and externally?
Query the status quo
The Bavarian Brewers Association was already planning to publish a sustainability guide for the brewing industry on these issues at the beginning of 2020. It quickly became clear that a printed guide would be outdated even before it was implemented in the companies. Above all, because the companies deal with the topic in very different ways. Therefore, the first step was to record the status quo in the Bavarian brewing industry. Breweries of all sizes and from all regions of Bavaria were able to take part in an internet-based sustainability check on a voluntary basis: Where does the industry stand in comparison to the "industry benchmark food", where is there a need to catch up?
More than 40 companies took part in the check. The evaluation was the basis for an internet-based sustainability manager, which is now available to the industry for use and integration in the companies.
What is needed is a holistic approach, but one that should also be reviewed again and againIntegrated management approach
In close cooperation with the Bavarian Brewers Association and numerous experts from the brewing industry, trade, gastronomy and media, the Centre for Sustainable Corporate Management (Zentrum für Nachhaltige Unternehmensführung – ZNU) at Witten/Herdecke University has developed an integrated, two-part management approach that is holistic, systematic, field-tested and certifiable.
Numerous other sustainability initiatives, e.g. ISO 26000, EMAS Plus, the German Sustainability Code and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), were incorporated into the development of the approach, as were experiences from pilot phases in various companies in the German brewing industry.
Part 1: Sustainable corporate management
The first part of the ZNU approach covers the "how?" of corporate management. Particularly noteworthy in the cycle of thinking-acting-measuring-communicating is the point of "early recognition". This is about identifying sustainability challenges at the company and product level and integrating them into the strategic orientation of the company.
Part 2: Sustainability issues
The second part of the ZNU approach focuses on the issue-related "What? The systematic treatment of sustainability topics highlights what a company is doing in the three sustainability pillars of environment, economy and social issues, e.g. energy, packaging, waste, quality, honest advertising, health and demography. Both at its own production site and along the value chain.
Advantages of the sustainability manager
The special advantage for medium-sized companies in the brewing industry is that the association has already discussed the analysis of the various relevant stakeholder groups in expert panels and stored it in the sustainability manager. This enables the breweries to move forward quickly after the individual site-specific check without having to conduct time-consuming stakeholder surveys and transfer them to the system. Many corridors for consumption values of energy sources and water known from the companies as well as countless examples for the implementation of sustainability measures in the listed areas of consideration were stored in the system. Thus, the original idea of a sustainability guideline - integrated as a guide for action - is also reflected in the manager.
A target and action plan supports the employees in the completion of the pending measuresResult: holistic target and action plan
The sustainability manager of the Bavarian Brewers Association and the ZNU enable a holistic recording, further development and evaluation of the relevant measures for the step-by-step improvement of the sustainability of a company. The materiality matrix calculated in the manager for each company leads to a plan of goals and measures that supports the employees in completing the pending activities and measures. Even responsibilities with objectives and time horizons for completion can be assigned and tracked.
Existing certifications (such as EMAS or alternative certification systems) are integrated into the sustainability manager. To avoid duplicate data collection and evaluation for existing systems, the system offers many synergistic possibilities.
The ZNU standard "Sustainable Management" serves companies to make their entrepreneurial actions more sustainable step by step and strives for continuous improvement. It is the only field-tested and certifiable standard that requires and promotes the development of an integrated management system for more sustainable management, taking into account the environmental, economic and social dimensions and their interactions.
The externally certifiable ZNU standard also makes it possible to communicate sustainability activities transparently and credibly to all stakeholders, e.g. business partners, employees, banks or authorities.
Get to know via test access
To get to know the Sustainability Manager, there is the possibility of a four-week free access to the internet-based software solution. Simply apply by email at: christian.hollaender@fjol.de. Each brewery can have its access individually adapted to the company's brand CI and colour scheme. The company's own data that is fed into the manager is stored on two mirrored servers located in different places in Bavaria and equipped with the necessary security measures. A minimalised version of the sustainability manager is available for microbreweries. The revision process for the ZNU Sustainable Business Standard is still taking place until 4 December 2022. At www.znu-standard.com/, all certified or interested companies, trade, associations, societies and other organisations as well as science, politics and individuals are invited to participate in this way in the process of revising the ZNU Standard for Sustainable Management.
