‘I am passionate about environmental stewardship and acknowledge that companies like CUB have a part to play in driving this,’ CUB’s Sustainability Manager Kirsten Sturzaker tells us, as we sit down to discuss the events and programs that CUB is running for World Environment Day and their overall sustainability goals.

Having joined the company two years ago as a Trade Activation Manager, Kirsten took on the task of driving the 2025 sustainability initiatives for CUB last July. ‘I work across our business on building and implementing the sustainability strategy  that will enable us to achieve our 2025 sustainability goals, which are Climate Action, Circular Packaging, Water Stewardship and Smart Agriculture.’ You can read more about these priorities on the Better World section of this website.

World Environment Day, which is celebrated each year on June 5th encourages worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment.  The 2019 theme invites us to consider how we can change our everyday lives to reduce the amount of air pollution we produce, and thwart its contribution to global warming and its effects on our own health.

To celebrate and engage the wider business on World Environment Day, CUB has a range of activities planned, Kirsten explains, ‘To help us embrace the focus of this year’s World Environment Day we are running internal competitions to showcase new ideas for how we can reduce our carbon emissions. We are also providing employees with tips on how they can reduce their carbon emissions whether it is catching public transport or riding to work or making sure they turn off electronics and lights when not in use.’ And it’s not just air pollution that CUB members are tackling.  According to Kirsten, CUB employees from all areas of the company are also volunteering for clean-up days along the waterways near CUB breweries across Australia.

However, sustainability is something that CUB is committed to every day, and this is reflected in the organisation’s ambitious 2025 sustainability goals one of these being around Climate Action where the business is striving for a 25% reduction in carbon emissions across the entire value chain and committing to running on 100% purchased renewable electricity.

For instance, Kirsten tells us, ‘We are currently installing solar panels on each of our brewery roofs to achieve 100% purchased renewable electricity by 2025. We are also working on projects to increase the recycled content packaging across glass bottles and cans.’  These are just a couple of examples of the sorts of practices being implemented at CUB with the aim of mitigating its impact on, preserving and improving the environment.

As Sustainability Manager, it is Kirsten’s role to champion sustainability across the business, but this is an organisation-wide challenge that she isn’t tackling alone. With her role working out of Procurement, Kirsten works closely with all relevant managers, who have sustainability targets as part of their roles to ensure we they sourcing from and partnering with suppliers to achieve these goals together.

Alongside this, CUB has formed the Better World Committee to support and drive this across the business. ‘Made up of more than 40 volunteers across the business who are bringing new ideas and helping to implement projects linked to our sustainability goals,’ Kirsten explains.

‘I feel responsible for the environment that surrounds me and want to ensure that it stays productive and, as far as possible, pristine for generations to come,’ Kirsten says. In addition to this vision for the future, Kirsten acknowledges another reason it makes sense for CUB to be involved in sustainability issues. ‘Like most of us at CUB, I love beer and I know that if we want to continue producing high-quality beer, for the next 180 years to come, we need to have a clean environment to do so.’