Governance

HEINEKEN has always had a drive to excel. We defined our core value, ‘passion for quality’, right at the start of our company, some 140 years ago. We believe we should do the right thing in the right fashion.

Governance is considered an enabler to ensure we are brewing a better future.

Our governance process enables us to respond coherently at our corporate centre to real concerns raised by our stakeholders, taking into account the opinions of all relevant departments and operating companies. The process also allows us to embed corporate responsibility initiatives in our Group functional agenda.

Steering Committee
HEINEKEN N.V. has a global governance of the sustainability agenda covering all disciplines and geographies. The sustainability agenda is centrally led by a multidisciplinary Executive level Steering Committee at head office, comprising:
  • Chief Corporate Relations Officer (Chair)
  • President Africa & Middle East
  • Chief Supply Chain Officer
  • Chief Commercial Officer
  • Chief Human Resources Officer
This Steering Committee operates under the responsibility of the Executive Committee. It will meet four times a year to advise and challenge the progress on the 22 programmes and their associated targets and commitments. It will seek direct input from both internal and external stakeholders.
Internal reporting
The Steering Committee prepares a written report for both the Executive Board and Executive Committee, defining the actions that should be part of the Three Year Plans and Key Issues Meetings for the Group functions, the Regions and the operations in order to achieve our targets. In compliance with the Dutch Corporate Governance Code, our Supervisory Board will discuss sustainability at least once per year.

A dedicated management role reporting to the Chief Corporate Relations Officer is responsible for co-ordinating stakeholder engagement, co-ordinating and aligning all activities relating to the sustainability agenda in all relevant Group departments and in all Operating Companies worldwide, embedding the sustainability agenda into our business process and ensuring continuous review & development of our sustainability programme. Sustainability Stream Leaders drive the programmes that fall under the responsibility of their specific department.

Each of the 22 programmes has a dedicated ‘owner’ responsible for steering progress on that programme towards our 2020 ambition.

Each Operating Company has a local Sustainability Committee responsible for the development and execution of the local sustainability strategy within the HEINEKEN N.V. framework.
External reliance
Twice a year we will seek independent, external input on our agenda from recognised experts in either sustainability in general or, in one of our specific programme areas.