Anheuser-Busch InBev

Sustainable development strategy
The company has disclosed its process for identifying and prioritising its most relevant sustainability topics and has included them in its Better World strategy. Through its three focus areas – environmental stewardship, smart drinking and inclusive growth – the company discloses its sustainability ambitions, which are guided by time-bound targets. Via these areas, which align with the three benchmark dimensions, AB InBev demonstrates having a holistic sustainability strategy. The company has also established a reporting practice and consistently discloses its progress.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development
AB InBev has set up a governance mechanism to guide and review its sustainability strategy. Accountability for the company’s sustainability strategy lies with the company’s highest governance body. Moreover, the company has disclosed its sustainability-related remuneration policy, where it leads the way, having variable compensation based on its 2025 sustainability goals, which is cascaded from the highest level to all operating units.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
The company discloses both qualitative and quantitative evidence in relation to reducing GHG emissions, including all scopes. The company has set science-based targets for its scopes 1 and 2 emissions, following a 1.5-degree trajectory, towards 2025. It also includes more than 87% of its scope 3 emissions, in line with science-based targets. AB InBev is also committed to reducing its GHG emissions per beverage by 25% and includes its value chain in promoting the use of energy-efficient cooling systems via their retailing partners. The company discloses evidence of its progress.

Plastic use and packaging waste
The company has set diverse targets addressing sustainable packaging and plastic use, based on various ongoing programmes related to these topics. It has set a target whereby 100% of its products will be sold in returnable packaging or packaging made from mostly recycled content by 2025. When it comes to plastic use, the focus has been on secondary packaging, including phasing out plastic rings. However, no time-bound target has yet been set for this. Where it does have targets, the company consistently reports on progress against them.

Clear and transparent labelling
In addition to complying with mandatory labelling, AB InBev commits to voluntary labelling efforts, focused primarily on responsible drinking messages, aimed at improving alcohol literacy. This includes actionable advice and visual icons. The company also committed to placing guidance labels on all its beer products by the end of 2020 and had achieved 81% of eligible volume by that time. It plans to reach 100% in 2021. Moreover, the company is making additional efforts to add smart drinking messages to its secondary packaging, having implemented this in one market and aiming to expand its reach starting 2021.

Farmer and fisher productivity and resilience
Ab InBev is committed to improving the livelihoods of its retailers, suppliers and farmers. Regarding farmers, the company works with 20,000 farmers, two thirds of which are smallholders. As part of its smart agriculture goal, the company has committed to helping 100% of its direct farmers become skilled, connected and financially empowered by 2025. To date, more than 15,000 smallholder farmers have been reached by the programme, reaching completion rates that go from 47% and up until 76%. The company also discloses its definition of these three concepts in its reporting.

Stakeholder engagement
The company does not disclose stakeholder engagement activities, including how it selects the stakeholders, nor an overview of the topics discussed or their outcomes, besides their materiality assessment.

Soil health and agrobiodiversity, and fertiliser and pesticide use
AB InBev discloses commitments related to optimising the use of agrochemicals, including fertilisers and pest control, as well as various aspects of soil health, as part of its Responsible Sourcing Principles. The company’s guidelines cover topics such as soil structure, fertility and erosion, and soil-monitoring processes. Moreover, the company addresses the use of fertilisers, along with pest-management practices and a pathway for improving soil health, in its Soil Health Framework. While it has pledged to address both elements as part of its Smart Agriculture and Climate Action commitments, the company could further strengthen these commitments by setting time-bound targets and, ultimately, reporting on progress.

Water use
AB InBev has pledged to build resilience via its water stewardship commitments by setting various targets. The company aims to have measurably improved water availability and quality in 100% of its water-stressed communities by 2025, and it discloses that 78% of these communities have already implemented solutions. Furthermore, the company set a target to improve its water-use efficiency ratio, which it met in 2019, and set new targets towards 2025. While the company has disclosed many of its partnerships and stakeholder engagement activities on this topic, it could improve its disclosures by mentioning how it works with its suppliers in water-stressed areas.

Food loss and waste
While the company is addressing food loss and waste in its own operations through diverting edible waste via its recently launched EverGrain line, which recovers used barley in order to create plant-based proteins, it has an opportunity to disclose a commitment by setting targets to reduce food loss and waste across its own operations and supply chain and reporting against these targets, and by also disclosing quantitative data to demonstrate that it is reducing food loss and waste.

Availability of healthy foods
While the company discloses that it introduces reformulated products such as alcohol-free or low alcohol, and low-sugar and low-calorie products and demonstrates it has a target to increase the amount of non-alcoholic or low-alcohol beverages in its portfolio, it has an opportunity to disclose its reformulation efforts regarding other key nutrients such as sugar and calories.

Responsible marketing
AB InBev has a responsible marketing and communications code. This covers all forms of media and sets the minimum standards for conducting marketing. The company mentions that its most critical effort goes to addressing the harmful effects of alcohol consumption, which it addresses through its smart drinking initiatives. While the company discloses the amount spent on responsible marketing and the percentage in terms of its overall marketing expenditure, it has not shared a target to increase these efforts.

Workforce nutrition
AB InBev says it is committed to supporting workforce nutrition by providing heathy foods at work. The company discloses information regarding its corporate restaurant, which has an interest in helping diners understand nutrition better. However, the extent of this practice is not clear. The company could improve by disclosing more details regarding the extent of these activities.

Food safety
While the company discloses compliance with national regulations and/or the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene, it has an opportunity to strengthen its commitment by disclosing the percentages of its own operations that are certified to a food safety scheme/certification programme recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative.

Child labour
While the company commits to prohibiting child labour in its own operations and requires its suppliers to adhere to the same standard, it has an opportunity to disclose a policy requiring its suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
The company is committed to eliminating forced labour, both in its own operations and supply chain. This commitment prohibits personal identification and document retention and restrictions on freedom of movement. The company also discloses a statement regarding freedom of association and protection from retaliation. However, the company has an opportunity to improve its commitment by further strengthening its human rights assessment and grievance procedures, and by disclosing and implementing compliance monitoring systems.

Living wage
The company does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage or requires its suppliers to do the same. Neither has it set targets to do so in the future.

Health and safety for vulnerable groups
The company does not disclose that it specifically recognises the health and safety risks to vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary labourers, women and young farmers.

Land rights
Ab InBev is ahead of most companies in the benchmark when it comes to commitments towards land tenure rights. The company has tightened its supplier guidelines, requiring suppliers to seek free, prior and informed consent and to have a grievance mechanism in place to resolve any disputes over land titles. However, the company can strengthen its commitment on this area by disclosing on its process for providing prompt remediation.

AB InBev has commitments that cover most key topics under respect for human rights as well as an identification process for its most salient human rights issues and actions taken based on these issues. The company also demonstrates an ongoing process of stakeholder engagement related to human rights and has a grievance mechanism in place that is accessible both by internal and external stakeholders. However, AB InBev lacks disclosure on its assessment of human rights risks and impacts.

AB InBev has public commitments related to health and safety, gender equality and women’s empowerment. While the company discloses some details on these commitments, it does not report on the implementation and monitoring around health and safety, workforce diversity, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Moreover, the company has not made commitments towards living wages, regular and overtime working hours in its own operations and supply chain and collective bargaining.

AB InBev covers some of the aspects of key ethical business topics in its public disclosures, such as a privacy statement regarding data collection and a bribery and corruption policy covering its own operations and those of its supply chain partners. However, no policies on personal data or a tax strategy were found in the public domain. The company further lacks reporting on the coverage of its policies as well as their implementation and monitoring.