Praya, Mamba Water and Baer-Mate brands are pulling the growth of a business unit linked to sustainability in Heineken. With arms also on sustainability themes, the company intends to avoid millionaire spending in the coming years. But it goes further: only since 2024, the drink producer has grossed R $ 265 million with impact businesses.
Last year, the brewery invested $ 150 million to create what the “impact ecosystem” calls. Named Heineken Spin, the area brings together initiatives that were already part of the company’s ecosystem and new projects, all within the pillars of regenerative agriculture, circularity, impact marks and renewable energy.
For now, brands are the main growth and revenue channel of the business unit. “It’s closer to our Core Business as a brewery, so brands bring a bigger result,” explains Heineken Spin director Rafael Rizzi.
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The portfolio composed mainly of Praya beer, the mamba water canned water and the baer-mate mate tea has entered the Heineken menu after a society with Better drinks, beverage developer based on environmental precepts, social and governance (ESG).
According to Rizzi, the deal with Better Drinks did not have been a classic M&A, as there was no purchase of the brands. “Better Drinks provides brands and Heineken brings all this knowledge of distribution, production, sales. Heineken has become a partner,” he explains.
Since they arrived at the group, Better Drinks drinks have increased their production by four times, growth accompanied by a jump in commercial distribution – which takes into account channels and points of sale – from 10,000 by 2024 to 60,000 in 2025. Part of this growth comes from the non -alcoholic line, a strategic segment for the beverage sector in front of.
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But beyond the results, the proposal of the so -called “impact brands” is to associate with social and environmental initiatives. Mamba Water, for example, is packed in aluminum, material whose disposal is recycled, in contrast to the traditional pet bottles.
In addition to recycling, the brand states that, for each can sold, 1L of drinking water is donated to communities without access through a partnership with the Integrated Rural Sanitation System (Sisar).
From the business problem to the impact
All initiatives start from the same philosophy: from a business problem linked to a social or environmental necessity, improve results and depend only on it to impact, without the need for incremental revenue.
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“It is very limited to face problems as a need for investment, because in the end, money is limited. So we need to find a solution that solves the strategic problem, also solve the social, environmental problem, in which we are inserted and does not require investment. On the contrary: generate money for the company to reinvest in their own businesses,” explains Rizzi.
There is another good example to illustrate this logic. . And put water on it. Hineken is the second largest beer manufacturer in the country. To ensure its water recharge through aquifers and pay a counterpart to the city, the company, in partnership with Agro rhizome, planted 200,000 native seedlings of the Atlantic Forest in 142 hectares around the factory, increasing the moisture of the region and reducing soil erosion.
In addition, Heineken can compensate for its carbon emission and, in the future, to sell the surplus of capture in credits. It is estimated that R $ 53 million in spending will be avoided over the next 20 years and another R $ 37 are generated in revenue.
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It is worth the same in the circularity project of the glass. Heineken estimates to be the largest Long Neck packaging seller in the country. Good for the business, which sells a lot, bad for the collector.
It turns out that glass is a value of low added value and very difficult to transport from long distances to the glasses, as well as the risk to the collector. To get an idea, the aluminum cycle has almost 100% recyclability, while, by legal obligation, those who put glass on the street only need to collect 30% of the emission.
Heineken realized that at the end of the day, the treatment of glass for recycling is very regionalized. Then she inaugurated three recycling hubs in Pernambuco, Bahia and Espírito Santo and intends to open a new one until December in Alagoas. These are spaces capable of storing large amounts of the material, but spread throughout regions.
There the glass is clean, treated and selected. When a good amount is accumulated, it is transported to the glassage or the brewery factories, where it becomes more long necks. “I can pay a fair value to the association, for the collector, and this also fosters a social benefit. It is their family income,” says Rizzi.
By 2024, these hubs processed a glass volume equivalent to 9.13 million long necks, in partnership with more than 43 recyclable cooperatives. Another 1 million Long Necks in Glass Capture should be added with the creation of the new space.
In the energy arm, the brewery has partnerships with Ultragaz and Raízen Power for 45,000 signed contracts of renewable energy, generating a saving of R $ 23 million to participants in the program in three years since 2021. A wind park in Ceará, inaugurated in 2018, avoided approximately 40,000 tons of carbon, with an average savings of $ 6 million annual for the group.
