The world’s largest beer maker Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) may be based in Belgium but its leading brands Budweiser and Bud Light—the U.S.’ top selling beer in 2016—are quintessential Americana.
On Tuesday—the same day that President Trump signed an executive order cutting measures to combat climate change, namely former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan—Budweiser’s maker announced plans to derive its entire electricity requirement from renewable sources by 2025, Bloomberg reports.
That requirement is considerable: equivalent to a little less than Spain’s entire monthly consumption. In a statement, AB InBev said that six terawatt-hours of fossil fuel generated power would eventually be derived from solar, wind and other renewable sources.
According to AB InBev CEO Carlos Alves De Brito, the timing of the shift from fossil fuel to renewably-generated electricity is coincidental. “This has no political connotations at all.” Brito told Bloomberg. “We just think this is good for our business and the environment.”
Up to a quarter of the beer maker’s electricity will reportedly be generated in-house by installing solar panels at AB InBev facilities, Bloomberg reports. The company has also earmarked 490 gigawatt-hours annually from Spain-based multinational Iberdrola (IBDSF) to power its Mexico operations.
