This regularly updated guide from Just Drinks will present the targets the world’s major drinks manufacturers have published on net zero – and the progress they have made so far.
According to the UN, the scientific consensus shows global temperature increases must be limited to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels “to avert the worst impacts of climate change and preserve a liveable planet”.
Go deeper with GlobalData
To keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C – as called for in the Paris Agreement of 2015 – emissions need to be reduced by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.
Companies link their net zero targets to three areas of emissions known as Scopes 1, 2 and 3. Under the internationally-recognised Greenhouse Gas Protocol, an organisation’s emissions are split into three ‘scopes’.
Scope 1 covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. A second, Scope 2, covers indirect emissions from the generation of the electricity, steam, heating and cooling bought and consumed by a reporting organisation.
See Also:
Scope 3 includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain – and are the largest chunk of a drinks manufacturer’s output.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataSome companies have sought to have their targets validated by The Science Based Targets Initiative, or SBTi. The organisation is a partnership between the Carbon Disclosure Project, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI) and WWF.
The SBTi aims to encourage the private sector to act on climate change by supporting companies and financial institutions to understand how quickly they need to reduce emissions to align with the Paris ambition of limiting warming to 1.5°C.
Anheuser-Busch InBev
The world’s largest brewer has an “ambition” to be net zero “across our value chain” by 2040, a goal it set in 2021.
In the near term, Anheuser-Busch InBev has set a target of reducing its carbon emissions by 25% by 2025.
The Budweiser brewer’s most recently-published progress report on its ambition was issued in March 2023. AB InBev’s 2022 Environmental, Social & Governance Report said the company’s absolute emissions in Scopes 1 and 2 fell 2022 by 39.2% versus a 2017 baseline.
The Stella Artois brand owner also reported a 20.7% drop in its “emissions per hectolitre of production” against the same 2017 comparison when looking at its Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
AB InBev’s report gave a breakdown of its Scope 3 emissions, which accounted for 86.7% of its emissions in 2022. It has, for example, calculated that just over 42% of the Scope 3 emissions comes from “packaging materials”. To try to bring these emissions down, the brewer is moving to increase the recycled content in its packaging, invest in “low-carbon” packaging and reduce the weight of the packaging, also known as “lightweighting”.
Focusing purely on the GHG emissions from packaging, some 48.2% comes from cans, with a further 31.4% from one-way glass, AB InBev noted.
The brewer highlighted the trial of a “low-carbon” can for its Corona brand in Canada. The can is made from aluminium with recycled ingot and produced from “carbon-free” hydropower, it said.
AB InBev wants all of its packaging to be “returnable or made from majority recycled content by 2025”. That figure stood at 77% in 2022.
Compared to the previous reporting year, the recycled content for cans increased slightly. However, compared to AB InBev’s 2017 baseline, the level of recycled content decreased in 2022. The company pointed to the “significant growth of our volume in cans since 2020”, which it said drove increased imports of can sheet amid a “lower availability” of recycled content. “We are working closely with our can sheet suppliers to increase recycled content,” the report read.
Another notable chunk of AB InBev’s Scope 3 emissions comes from keeping its products cool. Here, the Leffe brewer says it is looking to install “more efficient refrigeration with innovative cooling solutions”. It is also looking to “scale” the use of more renewable electricity “across our retailers globally”.
And the brewer also detailed its estimates for GHG emissions by crops. Unsurprisingly, the biggest portion (45.7%) comes from barley, followed by rice at 39.6%. “Agriculture,” AB InBev said, “represents 14.8% of our value chain emissions”. The company is investing in regenerative agriculture projects in countries including Mexico and Argentina.
The Coca-Cola Company
US drinks behemoth The Coca-Cola Co. has two “key goals” on emissions: an absolute reduction of 25% across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 by 2030 and an “ambition to achieve net zero emissions” by 2050.
The Fanta and Sprite maker’s latest report (for 2022) outlined the progress the company had made so far. Coca-Cola said it had cut emissions by 7% from a 2015 baseline.
In 2022, the group’s Scope 1 emissions were 4.4 million metric tons, with Scope 2 at 3.5m metric tons and Scope 3 emissions at 57m, or 88% of emissions.
Coca-Cola’s bottlers have also set targets. Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, for example, wants to reduce its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2040.
Coca-Cola estimates 30-35% of its “carbon footprint” comes from packaging. The Costa coffee owner wants all of its packaging to be recyclable by 2025. In 2022, 90% of Coca-Cola’s packaging was recyclable, it said.
By 2030, the company has a target for its packaging to contain at least 50% “recycled material”. In 2022, the proportion of packs to contain the material was 25%. Coca-Cola added some 15% of the PET it used was recycled.
The Diet Coke maker, meanwhile, wants to reduce its use of virgin plastic “derived from non-renewable sources” by 3 million metric tons by 2025 compared to 2020.
In Coca-Cola’s 2022 update, it said: “In 2022, we avoided around half a million metric tons of virgin plastic usage through our efforts on lightweighting and use of recycled content, with an incremental avoidance of over 50,000 metric tons since last year. However, growth of plastic packaging has outpaced efforts on lightweighting and use of recycled content, so that we have not reduced our use of virgin plastic overall.”
2022 also saw the group set a new goal for packaging. It is aiming to have at least a quarter of its beverages sold by volume “in refillable/returnable glass or plastic bottles, or in fountain dispensers with reusable packaging”, again by 2030. The 2022 report said 14% of the company’s beverage volume was sold in reusable packaging.
By 2030, Coca-Cola also wants to “collect and recycle a bottle or can for each one we sell”. In 2022, the company said it collected 61% of the equivalent bottles and cans it introduced into the market.
Diageo
The world’s largest spirits business’ environmental targets include two goals on emissions for 2030.
By that year, the Johnnie Walker brand owner wants to “become net zero carbon in our direct operations”, covering Scopes 1 and 2.
On Scope 3, Diageo is aiming to “reduce our value chain carbon emissions by 50%” by 2030.
The group’s 2030 targets also include an aim for to only use renewable electricity at its “direct operations”.
On packaging, Diageo wants to see a 10% reduction in packaging weight and increasing the percentage of recycled content in its packaging to 60%.
In Diageo’s fiscal 2023 annual report, the company said it had cut the carbon emissions from its carbon emissions by 5.4%. It pointed to the “beneficial impact” of its biomass plants in east Africa and its use of liquid biofuel and renewable electricity.
Across Diageo’s whole value chain, the group saw its Scope 3 emissions fall by 1.2%. However, the Tanqueray gin owner added: “We remain behind our 2020 baseline by 20.7%.”
Emissions from packaging fell, Diageo said, amid moves to invest in the lightweighting of glass, removing cartons and switching to lower-carbon materials.
However, emissions linked to capital goods increased. The company said these included “investments in plants that enable our low-carbon transition”.
On sourcing, Diageo has a regenerative farming project in Ireland, aimed at reducing the carbon emissions of barley production. Last year, the company also started pilot ‘regen ag’ projects in Scotland and Mexico.
Overall, Diageo said its direct and indirect carbon emissions stood at 401,000 tonnes CO2e in its fiscal year 2023, compared to 424,000 the year previous.
On packaging, the Guinness owner cut the weight of its packaging by 4.4% year-on-year but said the amount it used was 14.9% above a 2020 baseline due to increased production.
Recycled content made up 39% of the packaging, a 1.2% fall on the previous fiscal year. Diageo pointed to a shortage of cullet, a feedstock for recycled glass, in the UK and North America. The company said: “We continue to face challenges in sourcing quality recycled glass and PET, though we are working with suppliers and industry peers to strengthen recycling infrastructure.”
Diageo’s 2030 emissions targets are approved by the SBTi. However, the company’s longer-term net-zero goal is classified as “commitment removed” on the SBTi website. Diageo, like dozens of other companies, is in the process of submitting an update to the SBTi and is aiming to have the target reviewed by the organisation within the next 12 to 18 months.
Carlsberg
The Denmark-based brewer, home to brands including Tuborg, 1664 and Carlsberg, is aiming to reduce its “value chain emissions” by 30% by 2030.
By the same year, Carlsberg wants to cut its value chain emissions per hectolitre of beer and beverages by 30% from a 2015 baseline.
It also has a target of achieving “net-zero carbon emissions across our entire value chain by 2040”.
Carlsberg has yet to submit the 2040 goal for validation by the SBTi “because we must also update our 2030 target – the near-term value chain target [for] Scope 3”, Carlsberg tells Just Drinks. “We expect to complete this work during 2024.” In its 2023 ESG report, the brewer noted how the SBTi’s “standards have … evolved” since the initiative first approved its 2030 target.
On packaging, the company wants all of its packaging to be recyclable, reusable or renewable by 2030. Carlsberg, meanwhile, has set a target for 90% of its bottles and cans are collected and recycled after use. It has also cut its use of “virgin fossil-based plastics” in half and for its bottles and cans to contain 50% recycled content.
And, on agricultural sourcing, the company wants to have 30% of its raw materials to come “from regenerative agricultural practices” and be “sustainably sourced” by 2030. Carlsberg is aiming for all its raw material inputs to qualify as such ten years later. As of 2023, less than 1% of the inputs were deemed to meet the criteria.
In Carlsberg’s 2023 ESG report, the company said “total brewery emissions” fell 6% (to 301,000 tonnes CO2e) compared to 2022 – and by 57% versus 2015. A second metric of “relative emissions per hectolitre of beer” has also been published. That’s 59% lower than in 2015, with Carlsberg pointing to better efficiency in its breweries and investment in “renewable capacity”.
Across the wider supply chain, Carlsberg said its “emissions per hectolitre of beer” fell 16% between 2015 and 2022 (to 47kg CO2e/hl) “putting us on track to meet our 30% relative reduction target by 2030”.
Turning to packaging, in 2022, Carlsberg says 74% of its bottles and cans were collected and recycled. The recycled content in its packaging, meanwhile, stood at 34%.
In the same year, the group said it used roughly 58,000 tonnes of virgin fossil-based plastic, which it added was down 3% on 2019.
Carlsberg does note that its figures on virgin plastic, the recycled content of its packaging and on recycling/collection rates are “based on available data; as data accuracy improves over time the results of this analysis may change”.
The brewer has made some notables moves on packaging – ditching plastic on multi-can packs in markets including the UK and trialling a paper-based bottle for its namesake beer.
Its 2023 ESG report states: “Following testing and consumer sampling of our bio-based and fully recyclable Gen 2.0 Fibre Bottle in 2022, we are now working on optimisations towards Gen 3.0. PEF, a plant-based material used in these innovative bottles, will be sourced from [supplier] Avantium’s new flagship plant, which will be starting up production in 2024.”
PepsiCo
The US food and beverage giant’s emissions targets are as follows: to cut “absolute greenhouse gas emissions across our value chain” by more than 40% by 2030, which includes a 75% reduction in emissions “from our direct operations”; and to “achieve net-zero emissions by 2040”. Those targets are based on a 2015 baseline. Like Nestlé, PepsiCo’s targets are approved by the SBTi.
In a progress report issued in June 2023, PepsiCo said in 2022 it had “remeasured the 2015 baseline to reflect the divestiture of Tropicana, enhancements in our calculation methodology and the inclusion of additional data its emissions in previous years”.
Importantly, the company has revealed its Scope 3 emissions rose 7% in 2022 – which its combined emissions over Scopes 1, 2 and 3 grew 4% year on year. (The Scope 3 numbers were, as of June 2023, “pending 2022 assurance”, the report said).
Nevertheless, PepsiCo pointed to its growth year on year. It said: “2022 Scope 3 results impacted by increased packaging use, transportation, third-party manufacturing and other purchased goods due to business growth.”
PepsiCo has also set itself a target of “regenerative agriculture practices” being used on 7m acres of land used “to grow our crops and ingredients for our products”. In 2022, more than 900,000 acres were using the practices.
Meanwhile, by 2030, the Lay’s maker wants to “sustainably source 100% of our key ingredients”, a list that will include not just the potatoes, corn and oats uses for the company’s snacks and cereal “but also key crops from third parties, such as vegetable oils and grains”. In 2022, the proportion of ingredients meeting that benchmark stood at around 55%, PepsiCo said.
On packaging has a “per serving” target. The company is aiming to cut its use of virgin plastic from non-renewable sources “per serving across our global beverages and convenient foods portfolio by 50%” by 2030. In 2022, its use went up 2%.
By 2023, PepsiCo wants to reduce “our absolute tonnage of virgin plastic derived from non-renewable sources” by 20%. In 2022, that amount rose 11%.
On both scores, the company pointed to the growth of the business “as well as external factors such as the limited availability and high cost of recycled content. In addition, we did not realise the anticipated benefit of recent regulatory unlocks that are pending practical application”.
Heineken
The Dutch brewing behemoth has its ESG targets under its Brew a Better World 2030 strategy.
Heineken provided an update on its progress in its overall 2023 annual report.
Last year, the brewer’s target of being net zero in its “full value chain” by 2040 was approved by the SBTi.
Heineken also received SBTi backing for a Scope 3 target under the initiative’s Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) guidance.
The FLAG scheme “provides the world’s first framework for companies in land-intensive sectors to set science-based targets that include land-based emission reductions and removals”, the SBTi says.
On the back of SBTi guidance, Heineken is aiming to “neutralise a maximum 10% of our unabated emissions by investing in high-integrity removal carbon credits”.
By the end of 2023, the Amstel brewer had cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 34% compared to a 2018 baseline (and 19% versus 2022). Heineken pointed to gains in production and distribution. Some 77% of the electricity used in its direct operations is from renewable sources, up from 58% in 2022.
It had also reduced its Scope 3 emissions by 20% versus the same 2018 baseline.
From this year, in the wake of the FLAG award, Heineken will start reporting against updated 2030 scope 3 reduction targets. These will include a 30% reduction in the company’s Scope 3 agriculture emissions (FLAG) and a 25% cut in its Scope 3 emissions that are not linked to agriculture.
In 2023, 14.1m tonnes of CO2e of emissions were classified as Scope 3, down 12% on the year. Heineken said lower volumes meant it bought less packaging. It also pointed to “changes in methodology”. Group-wide, the company generated 15.3m tonnes.
Heineken says its work with suppliers includes a “low-carbon farming” programme to tackle carbon emissions and improve carbon sequestration, as well as supporting suppliers’ moves to move to renewable energy sources.
The brewer says it worked on almost 300 pilots in 2023, in markets including Mexico, Brazil, France, the UK and the US. It wants to hit 500 pilots by 2025 “and to scale the low-carbon farming programme across volume, crops and regions”.
So far, 13 of Heineken’s suppliers (which the brewer says makes up around 63% of its agriculture-related emissions) “are committed to SBTi, out of which five have already set targets”.
Turning to packaging (which accounts for 31% of Heineken’s emissions) the Strongbow brand owner has three 2023 targets. The group is aiming for 50% recycled content in its bottles and cans. The company wants 43% of its volumes to be sold in reusable formats. And it has a goal of 99% of its packaging to be “recyclable by design”.
The 2023 annual report states: “The majority of our packaging is already designed to be recyclable and is recycled at scale across the globe. Our two main challenges are to improve the recyclability of our caps and secondary packaging film. To do so we need to improve the designs and recycling at scale through market interventions. We will also ensure all innovations meet the recyclable by design standards and are further integrating this into our sustainable innovation process.”
