Mexico: Heineken�s Baja California plant becomes its first to meet long-term water balance goals

Heineken México is touting its water management programs as its Baja California plant has become the beer company’s first to meet long-term water balance goals, the Mexico News Daily reported on November 24.

Last week, Heineken Mexico CEO Oriol Bonaclocha announced the Tecate Brewery’s water balance achievement, explaining that it was replenishing nature with water in an equal amount to what it uses to make its product.

“The Tecate plant has achieved water balance, which means that all the water we use to make our beers is being returned,” said Oriol Bonaclocha.

Heineken’s “Delivering a Better World” sustainability strategy seeks to integrate economic growth with responsible practices, including the company’s commitment to water efficiency.

“A company’s economic growth does not have to be disconnected from growth that is sustainable and responsible,” Bonaclocha said.

Heineken México Sustainability Director Inti Pérez said the goal is for all operations located in water-stressed areas to replenish 100% of the water used in making its beers.

Speaking at an event linked to the Colorado River Basin restoration project, Bonaclocha said the 80-year-old Tecate plant is the first Heineken plant in Latin America to achieve water balance.

“All the water we use to build and brew our beers is being returned,” Bonaclocha said of the Tecate plant. “We are the first in the Americas to achieve that water balance.”

From 2019 to 2024, the Tecate plant replenished 800,000 cubic meters of water, equivalent to 800 million liters.

The progress there stems from the plant’s circularity and reuse actions, as well as external environmental restoration projects carried out since 2018 in partnership with the Restauremos el Colorado organization.

A few weeks earlier, at the eighth edition of “Los Bóscares” (a play on the Spanish word for forest — “bosque” — and The Oscars) co-sponsored by Reforestamos México and Mexico’s National Forestry Commission, Heineken México’s “Healthy Watersheds: Water Balancing” project was recognized for producing a positive impact on the country’s forests, watersheds and ecosystems.

The project strives to balance the water content of its products in water-stressed areas where the company operates through reforestation, soil conservation and ecological restoration, while also returning water to ecosystems, allowing for recovery of dry areas and improved water flow.

In 2024, Heineken, which is expanding in Mexico, managed to replenish 77% of the water used in water-stressed areas, and plans to certify other plants in 2026 to join the Tecate plant in moving toward total water balance in all its operations.

The Dutch brewing conglomerate’s effort is also aimed at reducing consumption in its production processes. It has set goals for 2030 of consuming 2.9 liters of water per liter of beer in plants located in regions without water stress and 2.6 liters in areas with scarcity. Globally, producing one liter of beer requires as much as twice that amount —between 4 and 6 liters of water, according to the newspaper El Economista.

Here again, the Tecate plant is leading the way. It now boasts the lowest water consumption per liter of beer produced within Heineken’s brewing operations worldwide.