ThaiBev recognizes both the urgent need for biodiversity conservation and the significant role that business and organizations play in addressing the global challenge. In alignment with the “30x30” commitment at the 15th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), ThaiBev is dedicated to protecting and conserving at least 30% of the world’s land and oceans by 2030. The company is also determined to continue its sustainability mission, “Creating and Sharing the Value of Growth”, while aiming to promote biodiversity, through the following commitments:

• To have a net positive impact on biodiversity at its priority production sites
• To eliminate deforestation and enhance the protection and management of high-value natural ecosystems

These commitments extend to the entire supply chain. ThaiBev expects its suppliers and partners to refrain from having a negative impact on biodiversity and to avoid gross deforestation. The company has collaborated with external stakeholders such as suppliers, non-governmental organizations, and communities, and will continue to ensure that commitments are met.

As ThaiBev’s exposure to deforestation within its own direct operations is minimal, such efforts are focused on the supply chain and procurement processes, including expanding awareness regarding biodiversity. We have incorporated the mitigation hierarchy procedures (Avoid, Reduce, Regenerate, Restore, and Transform) to manage potential biodiversity risks related to production facilities.

The Sustainability and Risk Management Committee (SRMC) is assigned by the Board of Directors to review issues related to potential biodiversity risks quarterly. ThaiBev’s risk coordinators for Product Groups/Key Business Units work with the Corporate Risk Management Working Team to ensure that the mitigation hierarchy is applied and integrated into company-wide risk management, and that residual impacts are reduced as much as reasonably possible (see “ThaiBev’s Sustainability Development and Risk Management Structure” in the Annual Report 2023).

Any biodiversity-related risk considered material to the Product Groups/Business Units shall be reported to the SRMC for further consideration and action.

In FY2021, ThaiBev refined the assessment of biodiversity data into a Critical Habitat Assessment (CHA) for 40 locations (42 plants, 34 in Thailand, 2 in Myanmar, and 6 in the United Kingdom). This involved a closer examination of the species in accordance with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 6 (PS6) on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources (IFC 2012), consideration of inputs from extensive expert consultations, and the detail review of the additional site information to better characterize and assess the extent of site development and operation that may have or have impacts to critical biodiversity.

The summary of CHA is as follows:

• 8 production sites in proximity to Protected Areas
• 22 production sites in proximity to Key Biodiversity Areas
• 1 production site in proximity to a Ramsar Convention Area

In FY2022, ThaiBev conducted a Residual Biodiversity Impact Assessment to further assess what are left to be the primary residual impacts to biodiversity associated with a subset of 31 ThaiBev sites (29 locations), located in Thailand (24 sites), Myanmar (1 site), and Scotland (6 sites). These 31 sites were deemed to have greater potential to impact biodiversity due to their proximity to habitats specially designated as important for biodiversity and/or that they occur with the range of species conservation status (nationally or internationally designated as Critically Endangered or Threatened).

The Residual Biodiversity Impact Assessment which carries out the consolidated approaches by using the international Finance Corporation (IFC) Performance Standard 6 (PS6) on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources (IFC 2012), as the guiding framework as it represents Good International Industry Practice (GIIP) for biodiversity risk management.

The assessment was broken out into two components:

• Obtain and review additional information on the 31 candidate sites: development history; physical footprint; Environmental Management Systems; environmental compliance record; supply chain environmental due diligence; and any on-site and proximate off-site biodiversity or sustainability initiatives (undertaken by ThaiBev or others).
• Predict residual biodiversity impacts resulting from site development and operational activities.

Once the prediction of potential impacts is complete, each potential impact is described in terms of its various relevant characteristics (e.g., type, extent, duration, likelihood of occurrence). The next step in the impact assessment is to assign each potential impact a ‘magnitude’ and receptor ‘sensitivity’.

Magnitude essentially describes the intensity of the change that is predicted to occur in the resource/receptor as a result of the potential impact. The magnitude designations are: Negligible; Small; Medium; and Large. In addition to characterizing the magnitude of impact, the other principal impact evaluation step is definition of the sensitivity/vulnerability/importance of the impacted resource/receptor. The sensitivity/vulnerability/importance designations used are: Low; Medium; and High.

Once magnitude of impact and sensitivity/vulnerability/importance of resource/receptor have been characterized, the significance can be assigned for each impact. Impact significance is designated using the matrix shown in Table 1:

In FY2022–2023, ThaiBev conducted a Residual Biodiversity Impact Assessment to further evaluate the primary residual impacts to biodiversity at these 31 sites. The assessment was broken down into two components: Obtain and review additional information on the 31 candidate sites: development history; physical footprint; environmental management systems; environmental compliance record; supply chain environmental due diligence; and any onsite and proximate off-site biodiversity or sustainability initiatives (undertaken by ThaiBev or others).

Predict residual biodiversity impacts resulting from site development and operational activities. Each predicted impact is then described in terms of its relevant characteristics (e.g. type, extent, duration, likelihood of occurrence). The next step is to assign each potential impact a “magnitude” and receptor “sensitivity”. Magnitude essentially describes the intensity of the change that is predicted to occur in the resource/receptor as a result of the potential impact. The magnitude designations are: Negligible; Small; Medium; and Large. For the sensitivity/vulnerability/importance of the impacted resource/receptor, the designations used are: Low; Medium; and High.

Impact significance is then designated a matrix that applies universally to all resources/receptors, and to all impacts on these resources/receptors.

The matrix showed that three of the 31 sites have major impact significance on biodiversity. In 2023, biodiversity management plans have been implemented at two of these sites, Fuengfuanant and Thanapakdi, while the third site, Sermsuk Chon Buri and Sermsuk Beverest, is located in an industrial estate which has been notified to work on a biodiversity management plan.

To develop biodiversity management plans for Fuengfuanant and Thanapakdi plants, site inspections and local stakeholder consultations have been implemented to further identify and optimize any practical biodiversity offset opportunities. The target groups of stakeholders for consultation include:

• Local/regional government agencies with in-depth knowledge and authority over/interest in conservation and environmental sustainability activities (such as the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation)
• Local civil society organizations and NGOs who may be involved in implementing relevant conservation/ sustainability work in proximity to the area (e.g. World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International)
• The local community who may have an interest in and influence on conservation activities

The results of the site inspections and local stakeholder consultations enabled critical habitat assessments to screen species and to identify the local threats to those species.
Among the four qualifying species at Fuengfuanant, site inspection and stakeholder consultation confirmed that two of the species (Giant freshwater whipray and Club-barbel sheatfish) are present in the area while the other two (White-edge whipray and Somphong’s rasbora) are absent.

White-edge whipray, Fluvitrygon signifer (EN)	Somphong’s rasbora, Trigonostigma somphongsi (CR)
Giant freshwater whipray, Urogymnus polylepis (VU)	Club-barbel Sheatfish, Ceratoglanis pachynema (CR)

The management plan for Fuengfuanant will concentrate on maintaining the remaining population of the two species that are present. According to the Critical Habitat Assessment, the Thanapakdi site had one qualifying species . As a result of site inspection and stakeholder consultation, it was confirmed that this species was absent in the study area. The management plan for Thanapakdi will concentrate on reducing invasive species and improving the habitat quality of the Ping River.