*By Bridgette Webb* The world's largest brewer, AB InBev, is about more than beer. The company, which owns major brands including Budweiser, Corona, and Stella Artois, recently announced its "100+ Accelerator," a program for start-ups working on the most pressing global issues ー from clean water to climate change. "We had a robust plan on how we were going to achieve those goals, but we knew we couldn't do it alone," Maisie Devine, the global director of the initiative, said Monday in an interview with Cheddar. "We needed to go to the market to engage innovators, entrepreneurs, and technologists to see what other solutions were out there that we could quickly test, prove, and then scale," she said. The investment pairs with AB InBev’s ($BUD) commitment to its 2025 [Sustainability Goals](https://www.ab-inbev.com/sustainability/2025-sustainability-goals.html). Among other goals, the brewer has pledged to reduce its carbon emissions by 25 percent and have 100 percent of its products in packaging that is returnable or made from mostly recycled content by 2025. The move comes amid heightened concerns about the threat of climate change. The United Nations issued a report last week that warned the planet is on a catastrophic path unless carbon emissions are dramatically slashed by 2030. Devine said that now is the time for companies to really get involved in the effort. "These are shared challenges," she said. "It's the time for us to enter the market. We can really push change, we can implement solutions quickly and effectively." The problem is not just for government to solve. "It's time for the private sector to play its part as well," she said. For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/ab-inbevs-new-accelerator-program).

Share:
More In Business
Goodyear Blimp at 100: ‘Floating Piece of Americana’ Still Thriving
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
Is U.S. Restaurants’ Breakfast Boom Contributing to High Egg Prices?
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
Trump Administration Shutters Consumer Protection Agency
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Load More