Sustainability Exec of the Year: Preeti Srivastav, Asahi

September 12, 2024

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The Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024

Preeti Srivastav, Group Sustainability Director at Asahi Europe & International wins Executive of the Year Award at Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024

Preeti Srivastav, Group Sustainability Director at Asahi Europe & International (AEI), has emerged as a transformative force in corporate sustainability since taking the helm in 2020 up to winning Executive of the Year Award at Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024. Her Legacy 2030 strategy has propelled AEI towards ambitious environmental goals, earning her recognition, including a SEAL Environmental Initiative Award. Read her list of achievements below:

Under Preeti’s leadership, AEI has made significant strides in reducing its carbon footprint:
All Dutch and Polish breweries now operate on 100% renewable electricity, with the Grolsch brand alone eliminating 11,500 tonnes of CO2e emissions annually.
The company has also inked seven Virtual Power Purchase Agreements to ensure 100% renewable electricity for breweries across seven countries by 2025.
She has championed innovative packaging solutions, such as the patented TopClip cardboard packaging for can multipacks in the Netherlands and the replacement of aluminium foil labels with recyclable paper for Pilsner Urquell bottles.
In Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, AEI has introduced deposit return schemes for bottles, highlighting Preeti’s desire to introduce circular economic solutions.
In the agricultural sector, Srivastav has spearheaded partnerships like "For Hops" and "For Barley", leveraging AI and regenerative farming techniques to optimise cultivation practices. The Campus Peroni initiative, empowering 1,500 barley farmers, exemplifies her dedication to sustainable agriculture and knowledge transfer.

Moreover, Preeti’s impact extends beyond AEI. As co-chair of the World Federation of Advertisers' Planet Pledge and chair of the Brewers of Europe's sustainability subcommittee, she actively shapes industry-wide sustainability commitments.

Executive of the Year Award

Her regular appearances at high-profile events like Climate Week NYC and COP mark her as a real thought leader in corporate sustainability.

By integrating sustainability into AEI's core business strategy and inspiring 11,000 employees to embrace environmental responsibility, Srivastav has positioned AEI at the vanguard of sustainable brewing practices.

Steven Downes, Editor-in-Chief, Sustainability Magazine, said: “Thank goodness for people like Preeti, whose work should inspire others to aim higher. Congratulations, Preeti.”

The awards

Launched in 2024, The Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024 debuted at Sustainability LIVE London on 10, September.

The comprehensive programme acknowledges companies, professionals and projects that have demonstrated exceptional performance, innovation and strategic thinking in a multitude of categories.

The awards celebrate the best companies, professionals and projects in sustainability and ESG, and offer free entry for charities and NGOs.

“It was an honour to spotlight such a wide range of incredible companies at the inaugural Global Sustainability and ESG awards,” said Glen White, CEO of BizClik and Sustainability Magazine.

“At a time where it is crucial that companies are getting their sustainability strategy right, it is more important than ever to uplift and celebrate the frontrunners, the innovators and the pioneers who are developing innovative initiatives, projects and strategies that will have a positive impact on the planet for years to come.

Glen White, CEO of BizClik

“To host the awards during Sustainability LIVE London, where we’ve brought together thousands of the world’s brightest minds in sustainability, is an incredible moment for the sector to celebrate, we encourage many more companies to enter our Awards for 2025.

“Thanks to every company that entered - I say ‘just keep going on your journey’ and a big Congratulations to every company who was shortlisted, highly commended and of course to our 15 winners – we appreciate your input more than you know.”

The Executive of the Year Award

Celebrating the sustainability executives with outstanding commitment and consistency in tackling the sustainability challenge, the executives shortlisted for the Executive of the Year Award were:

Lael Giebel, Director of Global Sustainability at KnowBe4
Inge Huijbrechts, Global SVP Sustainability, Security and Corporate Communications of Radisson Hotels
Matthias Hartmann, CEO of Techem GmbH
Christiana Weisshuhn, Senior Director of Communications and ESG Program of Scala Data Centers

These executives have all demonstrated an innovative sustainability approach and shown commitment to sustainability throughout their career.

Their actions have resulted in measurable sustainability impact, and influenced corporate, stakeholder, partner or industry sustainability commitments.

Highly Commended: Inge Huijbrechts, Radisson Hotel Group & Lael Giebel, KnowBe4

From a shortlist of extremely talented individuals, two executives deserve a mention for their dedication to sustainability this year.

Firstly, Inge Huijbrechts, Global Chief Sustainability Security Senior Executive of the Radisson Hotel Group. Over the past year, Inge has been working hard on developing and implementing the Responsible Business program across the hundreds of Radisson hotels across the world.

She has been leading efforts to engage Radisson's 100,000+ employees worldwide in daily responsible business actions – not an easy behaviour to instil across such a vast team.

Inge also launched a new staff engagement initiative called Move to Zero in late October 2023, focusing on personal and professional actions that can help move the dial closer to zero emissions. The Move to Zero programme involved a friendly competition between Radisson’s hotels, where one hotel in every region won a prize to share amongst the team.

She says of the initiative: “We had a competition going on and a winner for every region, and then they got an amount, which they could spend on something sustainable together – so they could give everyone a gift or do a sustainable lunch.”

Inge has also helped advance Radisson’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, as well as its net zero transformation strategy.

Sustainability LIVE London 2024

Secondly, Lael Giebel, Director of Global Sustainability at KnowBe4 has drawn recognition and plaudits from the sustainability community this year.

In August 2024, KnowBe4 won the Sustainability Leader of the Year 2024 Award from the Business Intelligence Group, with Lael playing a key role in the achievement.

Under Lael’s leadership, KnowBe4 has implemented a culture of "extreme ownership" where every employee plays a role in the company's sustainability efforts.

She has also been overseeing KnowBe4's EarthBe4 team, which has over 55 members from six countries, participating in environmentally friendly efforts such as cleanups and donations.

When it comes to sustainability, Lael truly is an expert. She has several industry certifications and an MBA in Sustainability and is a published author with works that give advice to businesses looking to decarbonise.

In early 2023, she published Sustainability Is For Everyone, a pragmatic guide for businesses at the beginning of their sustainability journeys.

The Global Sustainability & ESG Awards 2024

Thanks to our esteemed panel of industry leaders who judged the awards:

Adam Elman, Google EMEA
Angela Hultberg, Kearney
Steve Smith, Schneider Electric
Sophie Graham, IFS
Courtney Holm, The Holm Edit
Professor Paolo Taticchi. OMRI, UCL School of Management
Márcia Balisciano, RELX
Jane Goodland, LSEG
Rahul Sareen, AWS
Kevin Dunckley, HH Global
Alice Spencer, CISL

The Global Sustainability & ESG Awards

The full list of awards categories and winners for 2024 is:

Sustainability Strategy Award – Geopost
ESG Programme Award – Liverpool FC
Sustainable Finance Award – Scala Data Centers
Diversity Award – Mitie
Net Zero Award – Klarna
Sustainable Supply Chain Award – UKL
Sustainable Technology Award – DuPont Water Solutions
Sustainable Consultancy Award – Forest Carbon
Future Leader Award – Anastasia Le
Executive of the Year Award – Preeti Srivastav
Project of the Year Award – Amazon: The Amazon Global Refugee Challenge
Lifetime of Achievement Award – Noel Anderson, Chief Sustainability Officer at American Red Cross
AI in Sustainability Award – Ndustrial
Social Enterprise Award – UKL
Start-Up Award – EasyCep