In late October via its platform The Movement, Israeli venture capital firm Good Company launched an initiative with several industry leaders to actively seek early- to advanced-stage startups around the world who are aiming to help companies reach net-zero carbon emissions.
One of the net-zero move’s partners — which include Continental, Ashtrom, Bridges Israel and LeumiTech — is Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer by both volume and revenue, operating more than 600 beer brands in 150 countries and responsible for leading brands including Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Beck's and Hoegaarden.
The brewer has a recent track record in making moves toward climate-friendliness: in 2018, AB InBev set aggressive goals against four key pillars: sustainable agriculture, water stewardship, renewable electricity and carbon reduction, and circular packaging. Since then, the company has invested millions of dollars in innovative sustainability initiatives, and it is ahead of schedule including achieving its goal of brewing our products with 100% renewable electricity.
According to Carmel Appel Raskin, AB InBev’s global director of tech innovation, the company has taken serious steps to ensure that they make real progress in its efforts to reach net-zero, rather than just pay lip service to a currently-trending market topic.
When the company acquired SABMiller in 2015, the company took out a loan with interest rates linked to sustainability KPIs: as sustainability goals were met, the loan’s interest rate fell. “This was a public commitment that we're actually very proud of because we put the money where our mouth is,” Raskin said.
Raskin is the manager of two of the company’s four “Beer Garages” — their take on innovation hubs. As the head of the Tel Aviv and Bangalore hubs, she believes that AB InBev has its finger on the pulse of hi-tech communities that can drive substantial change within the industry and for the company.
“My team connects to the different functions within the organization. We understand the needs, we can prioritize them and then we connect to ecosystem partners. This is why we're based where we are, because we believe that we can then source the best solutions. Our objective is to find relevant external capabilities in startups or big tech in order to reduce the uncertainty of deployment,” she explained.
Ultimately, despite AB InBev’s immense size (the company employs over 150,000 people around the world), Raskin acknowledged that it takes multiple simultaneous efforts to combat climate change. “We believe that no one company can solve today's sustainability challenges alone,” she said. “[But] we deeply acknowledge that a brighter and more sustainable future is possible. And we're ready to help build it.”
As both the globe and the topic of climate awareness become hotter, over 70 countries and 1,400 companies worldwide have formally committed to reaching net-zero emissions. Good Company posits that the commitments made by governments and corporations as well as the application of best practices and operations are not enough to meet this great challenge, therefore a key element is utilizing new technologies to reach the net zero goal.
They will have the opportunity to participate in a Reaching Net Zero Action Day
The mission’s top 10 selected companies will have the opportunity to participate in a Reaching Net Zero (RNZ) Action Day that will be held in mid-December, hosted by SAP Labs in Ra'anana.
“We believe in humanity’s ability to work together, facing a crisis and achieving the unimaginable. We plan to work tirelessly to assist our portfolio companies scale, and create solutions that will reshape the course of history.”
Ido Fishler, managing partner at Good Company
During this day the startups will present their companies and pitch to a wide crowd of executives from multinational corporations, investors and industry experts. The founders of the companies will then participate in several roundtable discussions, each under a specific topic.
“One of the world’s biggest challenges ever is reaching net-zero, but it’s also the largest ever opportunity for innovation,” said Ido Fishler, managing partner at Good Company. “We believe in humanity’s ability to work together, facing a crisis and achieving the unimaginable. We plan to work tirelessly to assist our portfolio companies scale, and create solutions that will reshape the course of history.”
The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.
