Our Carbon Footprint

At Molson Coors Brewing Company we are engaged in a number of initiatives to use energy more efficiently, thus reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by the combustion of fossil fuels.

For the past three years, we have participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project, an independent, non-profit organization that collects climate-related information from leading global companies and provides it to the investment community and the public.

In the US, Coors is proactively seeking to reduce GHG emissions and is a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Leaders Program, an industry-government partnership that works with companies to develop long-term comprehensive climate change strategies. Coors has completed a thorough GHG emissions inventory and set a 12% emission reduction goal indexed to production by 2010 (baseline year 2005).

In the UK, a number of regulations set limits on emissions generated by the business. We comply with the Climate Change Agreement administered by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We are permitted under the Pollution Prevention and Control system administered by the Environment Agency. Our operations qualify under new European Union Emissions Trading Scheme regulations, but we have been allowed to opt out until 2008, given qualifications under the UK Climate Change Agreement. Failure to meet our obligations under these regulations could result in fees and fines in excess of £1 million per year. We anticipate that future regulations will tighten targets, resulting in some combination of capital expenditure to reduce energy use, purchase of GHG credits under the European Union scheme and payment of higher taxes. In addition, CBL is part of the Carbon Trust, an organization committed to helping companies reduce their carbon emissions and develop low-carbon technologies.

In Canada, the National Pollution Release Inventory affecting Molson plants requires reporting of emissions.

We also participate in Wal-Mart and Tesco programs to determine the carbon footprint of our products from “grain to glass,” including the distribution chain.