HEINEKEN Hungária’s “Net Zero Production” carbon reduction program won an award

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

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

In order to achieve sustainability goals, HEINEKEN works with Siemens internationally and in the long term on several energy projects. In the spirit of this partnership, they created an energy recovery system, thanks to which the waste heat generated in the fermentation tanks during beer production is fed back to 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 generate hot water using 12.8 GWh of annual thermal energy extracted from the fermenter, thus ensuring the carbon neutrality of the packaging process.

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

Nikos Zois, CEO of HEINEKEN Hungária, emphasized in connection with the recognition:

“Our Sopron brewery, which celebrates its 130th anniversary this year, is among the first HEINEKEN breweries to enter the implementation phase of the carbon reduction investment, which is essential to achieving our sustainability goals. The large-scale, multi-year project also clearly shows that our sustainability investments, which form the basis of our strategy, have been deeply integrated into our business activities and the development of our operational processes.”

Göcsejiné Kiss Rozália Supply “A proactive strategy focused on mitigation and adaptation is essential to increasing our resilience and ensuring the long-term sustainability of our business and supply chain. We are proud that our efforts in this direction are being recognized by the professional public,” said Mr.