COP27: Beer pushes green agenda

Dutch beer giant Heineken N.V., soon to be the majority shareholder of Namibia Breweries, has joined an alliance of more than 100 CEO green activists in the world who sent an open letter to world leaders at the global climate summit COP27, which started yesterday in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.Dolf van den Brink, Heineken N.V.’s chief executive officer, is a co-signatory of a letter which states: “We, the Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders, are ready to work side-by-side with governments to deliver bold climate action. We encourage all business leaders to set science-based targets to halve global emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 at the latest.”The global impact on food and energy prices, notably due to the war in Ukraine, continues to hurt households, businesses and economies worldwide, the CEOs say.“The crisis is a stark reminder of the fragile nature of the current energy and food systems, which are still dominated by fossil fuels. Leaders at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) have the chance to make this a historic turning point towards cleaner, more affordable and secure energy and food systems,” their letter states.It continues: “We, therefore, welcome Egypt’s hosting of COP27 this year and Africa’s leadership on climate action, adaptation, resilience and a just transition.”‘SIGNIFICANT COLLABORATION’Accelerating the transition to net zero requires significant collaboration and shared responsibility between the private and public sectors, Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders stresses.“We believe that business commitments to climate action backed by private sector actions and investments can reinforce the mandate for governments to raise their own ambitions and enable faster progress. Government targets, supporting policies and transition plans can provide clarity, predictability and the competitive landscape to encourage more businesses to take action and to make transition-aligned investments,” their letter states.The alliance called on governments to “set bold ambitions and follow through on commitments”.“Deliver on the promise in the Glasgow Climate Pact and commit to ambitious and Paris Agreement-aligned nationally determined contributions and translate them into plans and policies that at least halve global carbon emissions by 2030 and contribute to global net zero by 2050,” they urge.They also appealed to governments to accelerate the energy transition.“Drive down the green premium of low-carbon technologies for hard-to-abate sectors by unlocking blended finance (concessionary lending, guarantee mechanisms and others), scaling innovative sustainable finance mechanisms, integrating climate and sustainability criteria in public procurement and promoting the alignment of international standards for transformational technologies.”NAMBREWReleasing their latest annual results in September, Namibia Breweries’ management said they were confident that the Heineken transaction will be finalised in this quarter.In terms of the transaction, Heineken N.V. will acquire 50.01% of Ohlthaver & List’s shares in NBL Investment Holdings (NBLIH) in a multibillion-dollar transaction. The Dutch beer giant already owns 49.99% of NBLIH.Heineken N.V. will become the sole shareholder of NBLIH, which owns 59.4% of NamBrew’s shares on the Local Index of the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX).The deal also includes an offer from Heineken N.V. to acquire NamBrew’s 25% shareholding in Heineken SA (HSA).

COP27: Beer pushes green agenda

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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COP27: Beer pushes green agenda

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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