Heineken Sustainability Report 2008

About this report

Transparent and audited

In this report, we have endeavoured to give a sense of both the philosophy and the facts relating to our approach to sustainability.

We have been transparent and clear in setting out both our achievements as well as those areas where we acknowledge we still have more to do. As always, we have had both the facts and the text in the report independently verified to a limited level of assurance by KPMG Sustainability, one of the world’s leading assurance providers. You will find their report here. In addition, our Group Internal Audit function has extended the scope of their activities in providing internal assurance of the information.

Full data set available

The report provides an overview of our actions and performance against the targets and commitments we published in last year’s report, but we cannot cover everything. For a full overview on our approach, objectives, strategies and additional information, please visit www.heinekeninternational.com/responsibility where you will find a comprehensive data sheet based on the G3 Guidelines as issued by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). This datasheet also serves as a GRI table.

In reply to remarks made by certain stakeholders and contrary to our normal practice of including data on  new acquisitions only after the first full calendar year of consolidation, we have also provided relevant data on new acquisitions, mainly the former Scottish & Newcastle operations where possible. This particularly applies to the sections on energy, water, safety and responsible beer consumption.

This report includes all operations in which Heineken owns more than 50 per cent of the equity, or has management or technical control. These operations are listed in Appendix 2.

Our dialogue with stakeholders

This year we increased both the number and quality of the conversations we had with stakeholders, focusing the discussions on our focus areas (and hence areas of risks and opportunities) with our 2007 Sustainability Report as the starting point.

In general, this approach has provided us with input for our long-term objectives and has helped us better understand what is asked of us and what we as a business can deliver.

On the basis of our previous report, we have or will conduct discussions with:

• Employees representatives (international trade unions, the European Workers Council, employee workshops and feedback sessions)
• Governmental institutions (e.g. the European Commission, Dutch Government)
• Trade and industry organisations representing suppliers and customers (EuroCommerce, Euromalt and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC))
• Investors (both sustainable investment and  mainstream investors)
• NGOs active in one or more of our focus areas (e.g. International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Amnesty International)
• Our auditors who made several recommendations in the form of a formal management letter.

As a result of these discussions, we have made the following changes in this report:

• In the foreword, we give a clearer outline of what sustainability means to us
• We have included information with regard to stakeholder engagement
• We have given some easy-to-read examples of what our operations are doing in the area of sustainability.

Your feedback

We cannot improve performance or reporting without feedback from and dialogue with our stakeholders. If you have any questions or remarks, we would like to hear from you.

Please send your e-mail to: responsibility@heineken.com
or write to:
Sean O’Neill, Group Corporate Relations Director
Sietze Montijn, Head of Corporate Responsibility
Mark van Rijn, Manager Company and Society

Heineken International B.V.
P.O. Box 28
1000 AA Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Our sustainability cycle

This report is both the end and the beginning of the governance cycle within Heineken.

We believe that reporting is an important driver of action within a business as well as a tool that encourages and facilitates dialogue. To this end, we will be working with our biggest operating companies during the year to support the development of their own sustainability reviews that will facilitate more local and relevant dialogue.

Thank you for taking the time to read the report. We look forward to hearing your views and suggestions.