Beverage industry leaders from across the globe will convene in Amsterdam May 14-16 for the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER) semi-annual meeting. BIER is a technical coalition of leading beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector. HEINEKEN, headquartered in Amsterdam and BIER member since 2010, will play host to the event that will bring together representatives across beer, spirits, carbonated soft drinks, juice and bottled water categories. The three-day agenda will focus on BIER’s work to reduce resource consumption, mitigate impacts and ensure the sustainable continuity and future of the beverage sector.

Vera Zandbergen, HEINEKEN’s Manager Global Sustainable Development comments: “We are very pleased to be welcoming representatives from the key global beverage companies to our historic brewery in the heart of Amsterdam. BIER provides a unique opportunity for members to share best practices and to challenge perspectives about environmental sustainability across our industry. BIER encourages collaborative action on the sustainability dimensions most relevant to the beverage sector and it helps to keep our joint agenda focused. We are looking forward to a productive meeting.”

One of the ways BIER aims to bring about positive beverage sector environmental change is through engagement with key stakeholders. In Amsterdam, stakeholders from Sustainable Agriculture Initiative and Unilever will share insights and best practices around sustainable agriculture applications and driving sustainable practices through the supply chain. Through this collaborative approach, BIER seeks to accelerate the process of analysis to sustainable solutions, in turn, raising the bar for environmental performance of the beverage sector.

Current BIER initiatives include defining context-based metrics for water use and efficiency benchmarking, developing energy assessment tools to help prioritize and mitigate climate change impacts across the beverage industry supply chain, and establishing better understanding of beverage container recycling rates worldwide.