Country’s leading brewer partners with Green Restaurant Association to pay it forward and promote sustainability in the industry
June 1, 2021 – Anheuser-Busch announced today that its entire portfolio of domestic beer and seltzer brands – including Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA, Busch and its Brewers Collective family of craft partners – is now brewed with 100% renewable electricity* from solar and wind power.
The Anheuser-Busch Solar Farm, the brewer’s 222MWac solar project in Texas, officially comes online this month, marking the early achievement of Anheuser-Busch’s Sustainability Goal to source 100% of its purchased electricity from renewables by 2025.
“At Anheuser-Busch we dream big in everything we do, including our commitment to creating a more sustainable future for our partners, our consumers, and our communities.” said Michel Doukeris, CEO of Anheuser-Busch. “Achieving this ambitious sustainability goal four years early means that each time someone reaches for an Anheuser-Busch product, they are choosing one that contributes to a more sustainable future.”
“I applaud Anheuser-Busch on shifting production to brew beer with 100 percent renewable electricity – marking an impressive milestone years ahead of schedule,” said U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. “Businesses in America, both large and small, have an important role to play in combating the existential threat of climate change. I look forward to seeing more companies in the private sector follow Anheuser-Busch’s example to shrink their carbon footprint and ensure a greener, healthier future for our planet.”
“Private industry must be a major ally in the fight to address the climate crisis if we are going to make meaningful progress as a nation,” said U.S. Congressman John Garamendi of California. “I’m pleased that Anheuser-Busch, whose Fairfield brewery in our Congressional District is one of our largest employers, is investing in technology to brew beer using renewable energy. Their commitment to brewing in a sustainable way is incredibly laudable and is the kind of thinking and innovation we need to address the challenges that climate change creates.”
The Anheuser-Busch Solar Farm, located in Pecos County, Texas, was developed in partnership with Recurrent Energy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc., and is the largest solar project for the beverage industry in the United States. Construction took nearly two years and created approximately 500 full-time jobs during the peak of construction. The brewer’s reach and resources, combined with its commitment to making a positive impact on the planet, led to its decision to bring new renewable electricity capacity to the grid through this project.
“The growth of solar is now driven by the sheer competitive pricing compared to other generation sources. It’s exciting to see companies like our valued customer, Anheuser-Busch, procuring low-cost, clean solar power to support their load on a national level with 100% renewable electricity,” said Michael Arndt, President and General Manager of Recurrent Energy. “We are so pleased to help Anheuser-Busch meet their sustainability goals well ahead of their targeted timeline by developing and constructing the 222 MWac Anheuser-Busch Solar Farm in West Texas.”
In celebration of meeting this milestone four years ahead of schedule and World Environment Day, the company is donating $100,000 to the Green Restaurant Association to pay it forward and support their vital work of creating environmental sustainability in the restaurant industry, through certification and educational resources, during a time of crucial rebuilding and recovery.
As part of Anheuser-Busch’s “Let’s Grab A Beer” initiative aimed at playing an active role in the country’s recovery and making the moments that we come together over a beer even better, Anheuser-Busch’s donation will go directly towards educational resources to help the industry implement sustainable business practices, such as renewable electricity, energy efficiency improvement, and product cooling.
“Since 1990, we’ve helped thousands of restaurants implement tens of thousands of environmental steps while improving their bottom line. We applaud Anheuser-Busch’s impressive solar power achievement, ahead of schedule,” said Green Restaurant Association CEO and Founder, Michael Oshman. “Not only are they supporting our mission to create a more environmentally sustainable restaurant industry, but they are also leading by example working with us on the Green Restaurant Association certification of their St. Louis Biergarten. We hope today’s announcement inspires other companies to take similar actions.”
Today’s announcement builds on Anheuser-Busch’s ongoing investments in renewable electricity, which includes the Anheuser-Busch Solar Farm and the 152MW Budweiser Wind Farm at Thunder Ranch in Oklahoma with Enel Green Power. Through the two projects and more than 10 additional renewable electricity installations at its flagship breweries, distributorships and craft partner breweries across the country, Anheuser-Busch has added nearly 400MW of renewable electricity capacity to the grid, the equivalent electricity usage of more U.S households than the city of St. Louis, MO. In total, the projects also offset more than 950,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent of taking 200,000 passenger vehicles off the roads each year.
“Congratulations to Anheuser-Busch on achieving 100% renewable electricity across the US, and driving tangible additions to renewable electricity capacity on the grid. This a great achievement and a significant step towards becoming 100% renewable across its global business,” said Sam Kimmins, Head of RE100, Climate Group. “Anheuser-Busch is demonstrating that renewable electricity makes good business sense as well as environmental sense and we encourage other businesses to step up and follow their lead.”
Budweiser and Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold previously announced that the brands are brewed with 100% renewable electricity*. With the Anheuser-Busch Solar Farm coming online this month, the early achievement of this renewable electricity goal ensures consumers enjoying any Anheuser-Busch domestic beer or seltzer brand moving forward will know their choice of brew was brewed with sustainability in mind.
*Electricity is one type of energy we use to brew. Visit https://www.anheuser-busch.com/community/home.html for details.
About Anheuser-Busch
For more than 160 years, Anheuser-Busch has carried on a legacy of brewing great-tasting, high-quality beers that have satisfied beer drinkers for generations. Today, we own and operate more than 120 facilities, including breweries, wholesaler distribution centers, agricultural facilities and packaging plants, and have more than 19,000 colleagues across the United States. We are home to several of America’s most recognizable beer brands, including Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob ULTRA and Stella Artois, as well as a number of regional brands that provide beer drinkers with a choice of the best tasting craft beers in the industry. From responsible drinking programs and emergency drinking water donations to industry-leading sustainability efforts, we are guided by our unwavering commitment to supporting the communities we call home. For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com or follow Anheuser-Busch on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
About Recurrent Energy
Recurrent Energy is a leading utility-scale solar and storage project developer, delivering competitive, clean electricity to large energy buyers. Based in the U.S., Recurrent Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) and functions as Canadian Solar’s U.S. project development arm. Recurrent Energy has approximately 5 GW of solar and storage projects in development in the U.S. Additional details are available at www.recurrentenergy.com.
About the Green Restaurant Association
The Green Restaurant Association is a national non-profit organization that provides the only official Certified Green Restaurants® mark in the country. Since 1990, the GRA has pioneered the Green Restaurant® movement and has been the leading voice within the industry encouraging restaurants to listen to consumer demand to green their operations using transparent, science-based certification standards. With their turnkey certification system, the GRA has made it easy for thousands of restaurants to become more environmentally sustainable in a profitable manner. The GRA has been featured on CNN, NBC Nightly News, NPR, and in The New York Times, and The Washington Post. For more information visit www.dinegreen.com.
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