Anheuser-Busch Launches Employee Program to Support World Environment Day

Nation’s Largest Brewer Joins United Nations’ Initiative to Increase Environmental Awareness

ST. LOUIS (June 5, 2009) – Employees at Anheuser-Busch’s 12 U.S. breweries and agricultural facilities are acting locally to celebrate World Environment Day as part of the global company’s efforts to become the ‘Best Beer Company in a Better World.’  Coast to coast, employees are taking time to clean up their communities, encourage others to recycle, and challenge each other to find ways to conserve natural resources both at work and at home.

“In 2008, Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. breweries continued a 100-year company tradition of minimizing our impact on the environment in our operations by reducing fuel usage by 8.6 percent; electricity use by 5.1 percent; CO2 purchases by 30 percent; and water use by 13 percent,” said Peter Kraemer, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president of Supply.  “All of these efforts combined reduced greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 10 percent.  In addition to conservation, we’ve expanded our use of alternative fuels such as solar energy, wastewater we convert to methane gas to offset our use of natural gas, and landfill gas, and we have more alternative energy projects planned for this year and beyond, all while maintaining our high quality standards.”

Since 1972, World Environment Day has been the United Nations’ platform to encourage people all over the world to engage in local environmental improvement projects.  The nation’s largest brewer is challenging its employees to find ways to conserve, recycle and reduce the resources used to produce its products – all with the hope of reducing the company’s environmental impact.  In the United States, Anheuser-Busch breweries and agricultural facilities have more than 47 activities planned to celebrate World Environment Day, including:

A World Environment Day festival, tree planting, Alternative Transportation Day and community gardening project at the St. Louis flagship brewery;

Employee tours of the Fairfield, Calif. brewery’s newly installed solar panel and Bio-Energy Recovery System (BERS) alternative energy projects;

A celebration of the recent Wildlife Habitat Council certification of the Manitowoc, Wisc. malt plant’s peregrine falcon project.  Since 1990, 39 falcons have hatched in the nesting box, with 4 eggs scheduled to hatch this year;

A tree planting at a local park in Fort Collins, Colo., which was attended by more than 60 brewery employees and their families.

“The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is very pleased that Anheuser-Busch and its employees around the world are commemorating World Environment Day in such a significant way.  Their activities can serve as an example for other companies to follow in the global efforts to reduce global warming,” said Amy Fraenkel, director of UNEP’s Regional Office for North America.  “Every action counts when you are trying to reduce the use of natural resources and tackle the challenges of climate change.”

 “We believe in constantly evaluating ways to improve our environmental performance while maintaining our quality standards and have set challenging global targets to achieve our dream of becoming the ‘Best Beer Company in a Better World’,” Kraemer said.  “Our celebration of World Environment Day is a global opportunity to unleash the creativity and caring of our employees so they could undertake small but impactful environmental projects at work and in their communities - all aimed at improving our environment.”

To learn more about World Environment Day, visit the United Nations’ Web site, www.unep.org/wed.

Based in St. Louis, Anheuser‑Busch is the leading American brewer, holding a 49.2 percent share of U.S. beer sales.  The company brews the world’s largest-selling beers, Budweiser and Bud Light.  Anheuser‑Busch also owns a 50 percent share in Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s leading brewer.  Anheuser-Busch ranked No. 1 among beverage companies in FORTUNE Magazine’s Most Admired Global Companies list in 2009.  Anheuser‑Busch is one of the largest theme park operators in the United States, is a major manufacturer of aluminum cans and one of the world’s largest recyclers of aluminum cans.  The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the leading global brewer, and continues to operate under the Anheuser-Busch name and logo.  For more information, visit www.anheuser-busch.com.