A truck driver for Labatt Breweries of Canada operates one of the company’s first electric trucks in Québec.Supplied
Matt Costa, senior director, sustainability and procurement, at Labatt Breweries of Canada, loves the scale of his company’s green ambitions. “We made our pledge earlier and with a shorter timeline than most other consumer packaged goods makers,” he says, “at a time when we really didn’t have a road map on how to achieve them, knowing that we had the right values, resources and people to figure it out.”
By values and experience, Costa is one of those right people. After undergraduate studies in his native Brazil and an MBA from Cornell University in the United States, he went to work in Switzerland for AB InBev, Labatt’s parent company. “In 2020, I became the director of barley and malt procurement for North America and spent a lot of time in farmers’ fields, gaining insights about what it takes to grow great barley, which becomes great malt, which becomes great beer,” he says.
In 2024, Costa took on a role managing the sourcing of aluminum cans in all of the countries in the Americas. “It was a really interesting experience, moving from the raw materials – hops, water, barley – to the packaging, which is just as important from a sustainability perspective.”
All in all, an apt background for Costa’s new role with Labatt, a company committed to short supply chains and local brands, as well as a green future.
“Sustainability is the right thing to do and so is doing it in the right way. My responsibility at Labatt is to source the best materials with the smallest environmental footprints at the best terms – call it economic sustainability – in a balance that extends across the entire value chain,” Costa says.
“It’s not just about having the lowest carbon footprint possible in our operations, but working with and enabling our partners in the supply chain so that we all become more sustainable,” says the director. “We’re aiming for an optimal equilibrium where you have profitability, sustainability and partnership, and the whole system is better.”
In Gatineau, Que., François Bernard-Hébert echoes Costa’s statements. As Labatt’s national fleet and capex manager – the person in charge of all of the company’s trucks – Bernard-Hébert oversaw the 2024 introduction of 10 half-million-dollar EV trucks into the Québec distribution network. “It’s a massive investment and it has to keep extending all along the line,” he says.
The purchase is the largest single order of VNR Electric trucks for Volvo Trucks in Canada, representing nearly 25 per cent of their deliveries, and was in addition to a purchase of Labatt’s first zero-emission mobile service repair truck earlier in the year.
“It’s absolutely the right direction, and it’s not just senior managers who are owning this initiative, but also front-line employees,” continues Bernard-Hébert. “The drivers, who were happy to hear the EVs were coming, have been great in providing feedback. We all understand it’s where we need to go for the next generation.”
Costa agrees on that point too. “It’s energizing and humbling to work for a company that integrates its green goals into its culture, not treating sustainability as something to bolt on to the basic business model,” says Costa. “I’m extremely excited to expand on what we are doing, making sure that we continue to be a prosperous and respected company, one that honours the role we have as stewards of our communities, our industry and our planet.”
More from Canada’s Greenest Employers
Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.