Environmental Stewardship Case Study:
Golden Global Water Summit (Water)
The first Molson Coors Global Water Summit took place in April 2011, where corporate responsibility teams (communications, water resources, brewery operations and supply chain) from across the business joined together in Golden, Colorado (site of the original Coors brewery) to learn, share best practices, develop plans and set targets for our Global Water Strategy.
The three day summit covered everything from direct operations in our breweries, watershed risk management, collective action and community engagement with our employees and external stakeholders, reporting on our performance and targets, as well as planning for our annual Water Stewardship Month in September – where we educate and engage employees and consumers around critical water issues.
Pete Coors, vice-chairman of the Board, kicked off the summit by saying, “Without great water, we cannot make great beer.”
Molson Coors Brewing Company has 350 years of combined brewing heritage in the US, Canada, and the UK, and although a global brewer, beer is very much a locally brewed product that is tied to the quality of water used to produce it.
The Global Water Summit opened the door for teams across the globe to come together and align on what we need to do together to develop and implement real-world solutions for sustainable water use.
It is clear that Molson Coors has established water stewardship as a business priority across its global operations. Molson Coors, while recognizing the local context of water issues, is implementing a strategy and corresponding action plan that will drive leadership on water conservation and resource protection within its’ own operations, through the extended value chain, and the communities in which they operate.
Tod Christenson, Partner, Global Corporate Consultancy
Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable BIER