With $46 billion in annual revenue, the beer giant may be the largest company to date to take a 100% renewable energy pledge.
While the U.S. federal government is moving energy policy in a distinctly 19th century direction, large corporations are taking a different stand. This was evidenced on Monday, when the world’s largest brewer committed to purchase electricity only from renewable energy sources by 2025.
AB InBev, better known as Anheuser-Busch, reported revenues of $46 billion in 2016 and has a huge presence through its brands, including Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois and Beck’s. According to the RE100 campaign the move will make it largest corporate direct purchaser of renewable energy in the consumer goods sector.
“Climate change has profound implications for our company and for the communities where we live and work,” said AB InBev CEO Carlos Brito.
The company’s first purchase of renewable energy will be from a wind farm in Mexico, however the company is expected to purchase both wind and solar for its operations in Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and other nations. AB InBev’s commitment is expected to increase the wind and solar capacity in Mexico alone by 5%.
Currently AB InBev gets 10% of its electricity from on-site fossil fuel generation, so the commitment to only purchase renewable energy means that its facilities will be 90% powered by renewable energy in 2025. We at pv magazinewill be raising a glass or two to the company anyway.
Source: PV Magazine. Reproduced with permission.
