Heineken has selected Siemens as a partner for its global Net Zero Production roadmap, as part of Heineken’s ambitions to reach net zero in Scopes 1 and 2 across all production sites by 2030.

Siemens and Heineken will work together on a long-term decarbonization programme which will see Siemens implementing solutions and services from its Siemens Xcelerator portfolio, to reduce energy usage at more than 15 Heineken beer and malt production sites, spanning facilities across Asia-Pacific, the Americas and Europe. Additional sites will be added in a second phase.

left: Matthias Rebellius, Managing Board Member of Siemens AG and CEO of Smart Infrastructure. right: Dolf van den Brink, Heineken CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board.

Heineken and Siemens collaborated on an initial project of consulting, auditing, and advisory services, using an energy digital twin to simulate and analyze a typical Heineken brewery in the virtual world, identifying where significant energy savings could be made. The simulation showed approximately 70 percent of energy use was linked to the generation of heating and cooling necessary for the brewing process. By optimizing and monitoring these cooling and heating systems through an end-to-end programme, Siemens estimates energy savings of between 15-20 percent at each site, and an average CO2 reduction of 50 percent at each site.

Dolf van den Brink, Heineken CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board, said: “As we continue to focus on the delivery of our journey to reach net zero in Scope 1 and 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. We are excited to continue on this journey with partners who are committed to pioneer and localize next-generation solutions, to help us reach our net zero goals.”

To achieve targeted reductions in energy usage and CO2, Siemens will deploy an end-to-end programme of solutions and services which are scalable and replicable across Heineken’s global production sites. Using operational data in combination with the energy digital twin at each site, Siemens will design, engineer and implement a system to electrify the production of heat and cooling using heat pumps powered by renewable energy, reducing reliance on steam generated by fossil fuels. The system will be monitored, controlled and optimized using Siemens Cooling Plant Optimization algorithms, which uses built-in analytics to analyze data from the plant to reduce energy costs and ensure operational efficiency.

“We’re proud to be a partner to Heineken’s Net Zero roadmap; an ambitious journey to reach net zero by 2040,” said Matthias Rebellius, Managing Board Member of Siemens AG and CEO of Smart Infrastructure. “Working with Heineken as a partner in this way demonstrates a thoroughly modern approach to data-driven decarbonization. By collaborating on an end-to-end programme, 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 agreement, Siemens will also deliver a five-year performance and monitoring contract, connecting the breweries to Siemens systems which use data services to remotely monitor the production sites, ensuring the best solution is operated at all times.

In 2023 Heineken’s net zero and FLAG (Forest, Land and Agriculture) targets were approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), becoming the first global brewer to pass this sustainability milestone.