Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE: TAP; TSX: TPX) today released its 2021 annual Environmental Social Governance (ESG) report with a refreshed strategy that focuses on two key pillars: People and Planet.
The updated strategy reflects the importance of both social and environmental issues as well as the critical role businesses have in finding and implementing meaningful, long-term solutions. Molson Coors new People pillar prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion while the refreshed Planet pillar maintains the Company’s focus on water, climate and packaging. As a global beverage company with roots in beer, alcohol responsibility remains one of Molson Coors foundational priorities and core values.
“At Molson Coors, we are committed to supporting our people and the planet in ways that are responsible and sustainable for the long-term,” said Gavin Hattersley, Chief Executive Officer at Molson Coors Beverage Company. “We’re proud that we’re taking meaningful steps toward building a more equitable society and a more inclusive beer industry by strengthening our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. But these steps are just the beginning of the work we must do, and we look forward to reporting more progress on our journey each year.”
Creating a Greater Imprint on People
Molson Coors new People strategy, centered on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, guides how the Company operates internally as well as how it will continue to grow on its revitalization journey. New People goals include increasing people of color representation in the U.S. by 25 percent and improving representation of women on an enterprise-wide level by 2023.
In addition to ensuring stronger, more diverse representation within the enterprise, Molson Coors has programs in place to empower and support employees as well as partners throughout its value chain. In 2020, Molson Coors donated $1.5 million to organizations across the U.S. at the national and local levels focused on fighting racial injustice.
“Representation is a critical first step to building an inclusive workplace,” said Steven Brown, Vice President of Diversity Equity Inclusion at Molson Coors. “Women and people of color are and have historically been underrepresented within the beer industry. We recognize that we have an opportunity to drive more inclusivity within our industry, and we take our role in this seriously. At the same time, representation is only one element of an equitable society. We are continuing to build new programs and find new ways we can make meaningful impacts within our communities as well.”
Leaving a Positive Imprint on the Planet
The refreshed strategy also focuses Molson Coors environmental efforts on the three areas where the business believes it can have the greatest impact: Water, Climate and Packaging.
Molson Coors continues to find ways to make beer with less water, as evidenced by year-over-year reductions in operational water use as well as water used in its agricultural supply chain. In 2020, the Milwaukee Brewery (Milwaukee, Wis.) reduced its water use another 8.2 percent by further optimizing clean-in-place processes. Globally, the company reduced its water-to-beer ratio by 3 percent to just 3.23 hl/hl (compared to 3.41 hl/hl in 2019).
Sustainable water use is only one half of Molson Coors commitment to water stewardship. The business also continues to demonstrate its leadership in Texas’ Trinity River Basin, where it has teamed with other businesses and local conservation organizations since 2012 to preserve the Basin, which is the primary water source for its Fort Worth Brewery. Earlier this year, Molson Coors participated in the launch of the Texas Water Action Collaborative, which brings public and private partners together to fund and execute water quality and quantity enhancement projects in the region.
“As one of the world’s largest brewers, we strive to leave a positive imprint on freshwater resources around the world. After all, water is our most important ingredient and the Earth’s most precious resource,” said Natalie Lau, Molson Coors’ corporate responsibility manager.
In March 2021, Molson Coors became the first major brewer in the UK to rely entirely on green electricity to power facility operations. The Company is exploring renewable energy options for locations in North America as well as part of an ambitious goal to lower absolute emissions within direct operations by 50 percent by 2025. Molson Coors succeeded in driving down energy and use total green house gas emissions across the global enterprise in 2020 by making capital investments to improve brewing sustainability, performance and flexibility as well as enhancing processes and oversight to ensure real-time adjustments and continuous improvement.
In addition, Molson Coors is working to deliver only 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging to market by 2025. The business is continuing its journey to landfill-free operations as well, with its Zagrab brewery in Croatia becoming its 19th facility to reach this milestone.
More detail on Molson Coors new ESG strategy as well as targets, performance indicators and reporting indices are available within its 2021 Imprint Report here.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the U.S. federal securities laws. Generally, the words “believe,” "aims," “expect,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “project,” “will,” “outlook,” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historic in nature. Statements that refer to projections of our future financial performance, our anticipated results, cost savings and trends in our businesses, and other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements, and include, but are not limited to, statements under the heading "2021 Outlook," expectations regarding the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on our business, impact of the cybersecurity incident, including on revenues and related expenses, future dividends, overall volume trends, consumer preferences, pricing trends, industry forces, cost reduction strategies, including our revitalization plan announced in 2019 and the estimated range of related charges and timing of cash charges, anticipated results, expectations for funding future capital expenditures and operations, debt service capabilities, timing and amounts of debt and leverage levels, shipment levels and profitability, market share and the sufficiency of capital resources. Although the Company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s historical experience, and present projections and expectations are disclosed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These factors include, among others, the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the impact of increased competition resulting from further consolidation of brewers, competitive pricing and product pressures; health of the beer industry and our brands in our markets; economic conditions in our markets; additional impairment charges; changes in our supply chain system; availability or increase in the cost of packaging materials; success of our joint ventures; risks relating to operations in developing and emerging markets; changes in legal and regulatory requirements, including the regulation of distribution systems; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; increase in the cost of commodities used in the business; the impact of climate change and the availability and quality of water; loss or closure of a major brewery or other key facility; a breach of our information systems; our reliance on third party service providers and internal and outsourced systems; our ability to implement our strategic initiatives, including executing and realizing cost savings; pension plan and other post-retirement benefit costs; failure to comply with debt covenants or deterioration in our credit rating; our ability to maintain good labor relations; our ability to maintain brand image, reputation and product quality; unfavorable legal or regulatory outcomes affecting the business; and other risks discussed in our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by such cautionary statements and by reference to the underlying assumptions. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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Contacts:
Martin.maloney@molsoncoors.com
(773) 972-7780
