This week, we had the privilege of interviewing Samson Wong, Managing Director of HEINEKEN Cambodia. HEINEKEN has long been a model for sustainability and success in the Kingdom, backed by its strong “Brew a Better Cambodia” initiative. Mr. Wong has almost 30 years of experience in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, including launching Red Bull in Taiwan and helping grow HEINEKEN into a household name in Cambodia.

EuroCham: HEINEKEN Cambodia is at the forefront of private companies embedding sustainable practices throughout the business. What is your approach to realizing your commitments?

Samson: At HEINEKEN, sustainability is at the core of our business strategy. Our Brew a Better Cambodia agenda reflects that and sets clear, ambitious targets. It shapes WHAT we want to achieve and HOW we want to run, as well as future proof our business and contribution to the country where we operate. On top of that, at HEINEKEN Cambodia we speak, feel, think in Togetherness. It’s this very spirit that lives in the heart of our company and guides everything we do.

The short answer to your question is therefore: we don’t do it alone. We make it a point to rally all 730+ of our very own colleagues first before we rally others. We find like-minded partners with similar goals to amplify efforts together. We don’t shy away from sharing our journeys so we can combine our learnings and achieve shared targets more intentionally.

This is what excites us about partnering with EuroCham for the upcoming Green Business Forum on 9 June. I look forward to progressing important discussions with our peers, from being open about our challenges to exchanging great ideas. A big thank you to the EuroCham team for this platform for us to come together.

EuroCham: And we’re excited to have you at the Green Business Forum! I understand you will be discussing HEINEKEN Cambodia’s bottle-return system. Could you tell us a little bit about this initiative?

Samson: Promoting circularity throughout our value chain is one of our key priorities to reduce our environmental and carbon footprint. An important factor of our full value chain’s footprint comes from packaging. We believe that accelerating returnable packaging is therefore key to realizing this commitment.

We’ve long invested in building a system that could support a larger scale bottle-return program one day, and our bottles are already at a higher returnable grade. Now we need more to join the returnability movement and make it bigger. We’re excited to share our first milestones at the Green Business Forum on 9 June and explore ways on how we can work together.

EuroCham: Can you tell us more about HEINEKEN’s Brew A Better World program, and how it’s being brought to life in Cambodia? One example is HEINEKEN’s on-site biomass facility, in partnership with BECIS, which uses rice husks for fuel.

Samson: Our Brew a Better Cambodia ambition focuses on three pillars: environmental sustainability, social sustainability, and responsible consumption. We aim to do this from barley to bar. To give you a few concrete examples: We’re investing in a capacity building program to promote inclusive growth for local farmers whom we source our ingredients from. By using rice husks as a biomass fuel source, we brew our beer with renewable thermal energy while also turning organic waste that would have been discarded into an additional source of income for the local community. We also use the spent grains left over after brewing our beer to feed cattle.

The biomass partnership shows a crucial milestone in the path to ‘net zero’ in our production. Yet, we have a longer journey ahead to drive net zero and circularity on a much larger scale. One of the biggest challenges we’re facing right now is in how we apply our sustainability and responsibility principles beyond our brewery and across our entire beer value chain. It goes back to how we need to do this with others, so we can co-shape an ecosystem that can support the urgent acceleration to net zero.

Aside from environmental and social sustainability, promoting responsible consumption is equally as important for us. We’re continuing to raise awareness internally to bring all our colleagues onboard as ambassadors, as well as providing a platform for Cambodia’s new generation to share ideas with initiatives like our Sustainathon.

HEINEKEN Cambodia has strong roots in the Kingdom since 1994. We’re here for the long term, which means conducting our business in a sustainable and responsible way.

EuroCham: How do you see the greener movement evolving in Cambodia over the next five years?

We are excited to explore what more we can do together. We see many more shaping important policies and business practices to contribute to the country’s sustainability agenda. I may be even more excited about the fact that a significant segment of the population is under 30 years old. They represent a new generation that possesses incredible potential in bringing new energy and ideas to drive a thriving, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable future for the Kingdom.

To unlock this potential to the fullest, businesses like ours play an important role, from providing quality employment opportunities to using our soft power and cultural currency to make sustainability and responsibility cool and aspirational. It’s on us to shape how the next five years and beyond will be like.

EuroCham: What can we learn from private and public entities that are stepping up on climate action?

Samson: If I may, I’d like to circle back to the spirit of Togetherness. Not just amongst ourselves, but also in how we bring individuals along on the long journey ahead. The challenge we jointly face on sustainability, as well as on behavioral change, is too big for one player or sector alone. It’s also not always the big initiatives that will make the most impact, small day-to-day actions will go a long way to drive the change and mindset shift we need. Let’s do this together.