In November 2009 Carlsberg Polska was awarded the Polish Ecological Pantheon for the company's overall environmental achievements. The award forms part of a contest organised by public and private experts and Rzeczpospolita, the second most influential newspaper in Poland.
The contest commission argued that Carlsberg Polska's investments to improve its environmental performance address a range of issues, are versatile and strike a far-reaching contribution to environmental improvements in brewing industry in Poland.
Environmental initiatives that contributed to winning the award included:
- 10 million EUR environmental investments in Carlsberg Polska's breweries (including new energy centres and wastewater treatment plants),
- Efficiency programmes for production and employees (e.g. production excellence, best practice sharing, lean transformation) that led to significant improvements in energy, waste and CO2 footprints,
- Cooperation with the suppliers (glass works, waste contractors, waste recovery organisation)
- Joint initiatives with the Polish Brewers' Association (IPPC guidelines on best available techniques in the brewing industry for environmental authorities in Poland)
- Consumer & customer communication on environmental footprint (carbon footprint of Polish beer, impacts and action in modern breweries).
Fast growth, improved environmental efficiency
These initiatives are an integrated part of Carlsberg Polska wide-range environmental policy which is based on the ISO 14001 standard and focuses on heavy environmental investments, operational improvements, communication and education.
The initiatives have resulted in considerable environmental improvements and helped Carlsberg Polska grow in a responsible way. Since 1990, the production has increased with 330 %. In the same period, due to the environmental investments and initiatives, heating energy increased by 30% more, electricity use by 120% and water by 10%.