This week, Minister Reyes Maroto of Industry, Commerce and Tourism opened Heineken Spain’s first climate-neutral brewery in Jaén. At the opening, the minister emphasised the role of beer consumption as a “barometer” for the Spanish economy.
The Heineken brewery in Jaén is the first in Spain to run entirely on renewable energy sources. This electricity comes from solar energy and from thermal energy. In turn, this is generated by a new biomass plant that uses pruning waste from olive trees as fuel. Consequently, according to Heineken Spain, €1.4million has been invested in this project.
Example of Recoverplan ideology
“This factory exemplifies the philosophy on which the Next Generation EU recovery tool and the Recovery and Resilience facility are based. As such, the most important pillars – ecological transition, digital transformation and social and territorial cohesion – have been realised in this factory, ”said the minister.
According to Reyes Maroto, beer consumption in Spain will increase sharply again as the vaccination campaign progresses steadily. And as a result, the beer brewing sector will play a major role in the recovery of the Spanish economy.
500 million euros for circular economy and environmental management
The Minister also announced a fund of €500million from the European Recovery Fund will be allocated. This will relate to investments in the circular economy, environmental management systems and sustainable waste processing. However, this amount was already included in the national budget of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.
At the opening of the Heineken factory, in addition to Minister Reyes Maroto, the head of the provincial administration of Jaén, the Andalusian regional minister of Finance, the mayor of the city of Jaén and chairman of the board Guilaume Duverdier of Heineken Spain were present.
From 2025, only climate-neutral breweries in Spain
In his speech, Duverdier mentioned the impact of the corona pandemic on his company. However, despite the economic consequences of the pandemic, Duverdier is embracing the company’s transition to sustainability. Moreover, they are working with the goal of only brewing beer in a climate-neutral way before the start of 2025.
