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Budweiser Improves Online ‘100% Renewable’ Energy Claim.

Posted on by darion

Budweiser bottles. Source: Giuliana Catachura / Unsplash

Following a complaint received by the country’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), AB-InBev’s Budweiser was forced to make changes to its “100% renewable” energy claim on its UK website.

A complaint was filed with the regulatory body by Irish senator and Sinn Féin representative Lynn Boylan, ASA confirmed.

Boylan said Budweiser had provided no evidence to support the claim on its website that its beer was produced using “100% renewable energy”, and that “every single can, bottle and keg of Budweiser in the UK” had been produced using solar energy and wind-powered electricity.

The regulator said the matter was “informally resolved” by the ASA earlier this month, and Budweiser was required to explain the validity of the claim on its website.

“We have determined that these changes are sufficient to informally resolve this matter,” the ASA said.

In response to X’s move today, Boylan said the ASA’s decision marks “another victory over greenwashing!”

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While the “100% renewable electricity” statement still appears on Budweiser’s website, a separate statement adds more color by clarifying that: “The actual electricity used to brew Budweiser does not come from 100% renewable sources.”

The statement also states that “Budweiser ensures the generation of an equivalent amount of energy under green energy contracts to offset the amount of non-renewable energy used from the national grid to power our brewing processes.”

It also contains information on AB-InBev’s electricity consumption and total energy generated from renewable sources in 2021-2022. In 2022, the group consumed 71,312 gigawatt hours of electricity and generated 77,603 GWh of electricity from renewable sources.

Commenting on the ASA case, AB InBev reported Only drinks: “AB InBev UK buys and produces more electricity from renewable sources than it uses in its breweries.

“This is documented in the pan-European REGO or GoO (Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin) system, which is a regulated system managed in the UK by Ofgem. Please note that there is a distinction between “energy” and “electricity” that should not be confused.”

The group added: “It is worth noting that the ASA decision did not follow previous rulings by advertising regulators in the European Union or the subsequent UK ASA approach.

“The 2023 ruling of the Dutch Advertising Code Commission in this case, which upheld the use of RECO (GOO) in the claim that Budweiser was brewed using 100% renewable energy.”

More and more alcoholic beverage companies need to think more carefully about their environmental and sustainability claims. Last year, spirits giant Pernod Ricard was hit with greenwashing accusations over its trial of a paper bottle of Absolut vodka because the bottle contained 43% plastic.

Responding to the accusations at the time, Elin Furelid, director of future packaging at Absolut, said the brand had “also been transparent about the composition of the bottle – 57% paper with an integrated recyclable plastic barrier.”

She added that the ultimate goal was to develop a fully bio-based bottle once the study was completed.