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THE ENVIRONMENT HOW TO SAVE EARTH
ENVIROMENT Environmental pollution and climate change is the major challenge facing the world today. Effects of climate change surround us with increases in extreme weather events. There is a clear link between climate change and the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the levels have increased from 283.4 mg/l with an average surface temperature of 8.40C in 1900 to 415.8 mg/l and a surface temperature of 9.70C in 2020. With current forecast emissions surface temperatures are expected to rise by between 2.0 and 2.50C over 1900 temperatures, with some projections as high as 50C. Industry is busy decarbonising by replacing fossil fuels with clean non-polluting energy. At present, industry is unable to completely eliminate greenhouse gas emissions during manufacture and offsets the additional emissions by signing up to “carbon offsets”. It is essential any offsetting is sustainable, accredited, and credible. THE ENVIRONMENT SAVE THE EARTH BE ENVIRONMENTALE TIM O’ROURKE IS A MASTER BREWER WITH OVER 35 YEARS EXPERIENCE. HE HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE INTERNATIONAL BREWING INDUSTRY IN A WIDE RANGE OF CAPACITIES, HIS EXPERTISE COVERS PRODUCT AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, MARKETING AND PROMOTION. IN THIS ARTICLE, FOCUSING ON BREWING, HE ARGUES THAT IT IS UP TO ALL OF US TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY AND LOOK AFTER AND CHERISH OUR PLANET AND MAKE IT SAFE FOR OUR CHILDREN AND OUR CHILDREN’S CHILDREN.
Offsetting will not be sufficient to halt the rise in temperature and it will require carbon capture to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, this is a young and developing technology which is expected to play a prominent part in combating greenhouse gases. By contrast to many processed food and drink products, beer has a moderate carbon footprint, but due to the volume consumed it still a significant contributor to greenhouse gases. When calculating the carbon footprint of a beer it is necessary to include the whole supply chain from grain to glass. A typical litre of draught beer gives off 363 grams/ CO2e per litre while the equivalent beer packed in non-returnable bottles give off 832 grams/CO2e per litre, based on results calculated from 11 different UK breweries. The first step is to calculate the brewery’s carbon footprint across the whole supply chain from barley cultivation to the customer enjoying their beer in the pub or at home. This can look like a daunting task and apFigure 1 Carbon Footprint for different food servings based on data taken from “How Bad are Bananas” by Mike Berners-Lee Revised 2020. 28 | SPRING 2022 BREWERS JOURNAL CANADA
Figure 2 Average contribution of operations to the carbon footprint of a beer from grain to glass information provided by Centre for sustainable systems University of Michigan
pears as an extra burden on an already overworked Brewer! Several organisations such as Brewers of Europe, Zero Carbon Forum, Carbon Architecture and Net Zero Now have produced templates and roadmaps to help support and guide business, and their customers, on their journey to decarbonisation. Each individual journey will be unique and based on the needs and operation of the business. A basic carbon footprint can be produced using simplified templates from standard commercial data for energy consumption, material purchases and sales. This will evolve as data become more reliable and can be used to highlight areas of high emissions and assist with the development of a programme of continuous improvement towards a carbon zero goal.
To cover the complete supply chain carbon footprint is considered under three headings: Scope 1 covers direct emissions from the owned or controlled operations of a business, which includes emissions from fossil fuel generated in the brewery for boilers, vehicles, and direct emissions of CO2 from the process. Scope 2 are indirect emissions generated by suppliers of services to the business, for example purchased electricity and heat used by the brewery. Scope 3 covers all other indirect emissions generated by organisations associated with the value chain of a business i.e., for production and supply of packaged beer, malted barley for brewing and bottles for packaging.
Stakeholders, investors, and customers expect business to have an active, credible environmental programme and Government and Regulators will be putting pressure on companies to follow its green agenda, including possible “carbon” tax and scrutiny of green claims.
Scope 1 & 2 principally relate to energy required in the Brewing Process contributes a relatively small amount (between 70 – 90 grams/CO2e per litre) or 10 to 15% of the total carbon footprint of beer. However, if this is multiplied by the volume of beer produced in 2020 it equates to 18 million tons of CO2.
There are many effective ways Brewers can decrease their reliance on fossil fuels to reduce their carbon footprint and save money particularly in the face of escalating fuel costs, for example: Process optimisation. Increasing extract yields and reducing losses will reduce the carbon footprint per litre and save money. During fermentation sugars are broken down to alcohol and carbon dioxide. A 100 litres of 1048 (120P) gravity wort will generate 1.8-2.5 kg
CO2. However, since it is considered to have come from renewable sources (grown in the last 5 years) it is not counted in the carbon footprint calculator. Many breweries recover CO2 to be used in other parts of the process, but carbon dioxide collection plants are big and expensive. A novel idea is to bubble carbon dioxide through an algal mixture to fix the CO2 through photosynthesis to produce human or animal food. Waste food can be used as an additional source of extract with several
Brewers using surplus bread as part of their recipe. This is not new, in the 1960’s Boddington was using broken cornflakes from Kellogg’s as an adjunct in the mash tun. Brewer’s (spent) grains and surplus yeast are used for animal feed. An unexpected benefit of feeding cows on a partial diet of brewer’s grains is that they reduce methane emissions by 14%! Energy, particularly burning fossil fuels, is the biggest source of emissions in brewing. This can be reduced by avoiding unnecessary heating or leaving equipment running when not in use or changing to cold contact processes using chemicals in place of heat sterilisation. Look at ways to green the process – capturing vapour recovery and condensate return or greening the premises by installing solar panels and planting the gardens with shrubs and trees Obtaining electricity from a renewable energy provider or generating electricity from solar or wind power on site. Use alternative boiler fuel such as biogas or coppice wood Invest in efficient boiler and refrigerator technology. Eliminating refrigerant losses, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which has a carbon impact 1200 times that of the same volume of CO2
Future opportunities include Using a thermal energy store for wort boiling and steam raising, heated by renewable electricity storing excess renewable energy as heat.
A major UK International brewer is installing hydrogen generation to replace gas. Signing up to a common protocol for measuring the carbon footprint to give confidence to stakeholders. Changing attitudes and engaging the whole organisation in the green experience. Always consider the environmental benefit of any business decision. Don’t be afraid to challenge accepted ways of doing things, after all many of the brewing processes have not changed for 1000 years. Examine and embrace new technologies. Verify your results with audits and bring your team along with the programme.
The rest of the carbon footprint is covered by Scope 3.
Nearly a third of the carbon footprint comes from agriculture in growing and preparing the brewing materials. Growing malting barley using modern farming practices and improvements in fertiliser manufacture has seen a reduction of around 30% in the past 15 years in GHG emissions. Alternative practices such as using crop rotation, organic cultivation and zero tillage can reduce CO2e by a further 30 - 40% with improvements in soil health and structure. Investment in agriculture gives farmers an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and generate additional income from carbon credits. This is a win-win scenario if brewers can buy this type of carbon credit (called an inset rather than offset) to neutralise their carbon budget and at the same time de-risk the supply of raw material by providing an increased income for farmers growing a low margin crop. The NFU aims to be Carbon Neutral by 2024.
Intercropping. Photo copied James Hutton Institute / Newcastle
Intercropping offers promising opportunities to improve sustainability, reduce pest and disease burden, and enhance the resilience of agricultural systems to stresses such as climate change and market pressures.
Restoring soil health takes time, for example in Argentina it took 20 to 25 years for yields to rise and replenish soil nutrients and soil organic content. Now the soil has better moisture retention and is better able to withstand drought. Brewing raw materials (barley and hops) are part of global markets, with crop security being affected by climate change, in the long term due to temperature rise but in the short term because of extreme weather patterns. We are already seeing the effects of poor harvests in increased costs.
During malting, kilning has the highest demands for fossil fuel and there have been great improvements in modern malting kiln design, with at least one maltster going green by using biogas. It was suggested that traditional floor malting has lower energy requirements.
Although hops have a high carbon footprint because of a high demand for fertiliser and plant protection, so few hops are used, its net contribution to a pint of beer is relatively small. There is a continuous programme of breeding to improve disease resistance and resilience. Acceptance of new technologies such as gene editing could accelerate the rate of improvement, reducing of greenhouse gas emissions. Also choosing local varieties would look better for the environment, although in practice long distance sea freight makes little difference to its carbon footprint.
Each supplier should produce a carbon footprint for the products they supply to the industry, so that this can be included in a carbon footprint calculator. This will lead to a competitive market for materials and services with a drive for continuous improvement.
The type of packaging has a major influence on the carbon footprint of beer with bulk packaging in kegs producing around 10% of the GHG of non-returnable bottles.
Figure 3 Total life cycle for different package types in grams of CO2e per litre beer with information provided by Centre for sustainable systems University of Michigan The friendliest environmental option for packaging beer is using bulk recy-
Figure 4: Adnams Brewery have been able to reduce the weight of glass without changing the volume in their glass bottles. Weight of 500 ml Broadside has been reduced by 34% from 445 g to 299 g. Saving 600 tonnes of glass/year Saving 410 tonnes of CO2e/year
clable containers which can be reused for decades only requiring cleaning between uses.
There are plastic based bulk containers specially designed for recycling and reuse where the containers can be fully dismantled, and the parts recycled.
Small pack (bottles and cans) form an important part of the product mix for beer sales and progress has been made to reduce their environmental impact with progress in “light weighting” (reducing the amount of material in each container) by as much as 40%. Most small pack is single use, and it is essential that there are good recycling facilities to minimise their environmental impact.
Secondary and Tertiary packaging represent an unnecessary waste and should be kept to a minimum. One area of public concern has been plastic waste particularly when it finds its way into the ocean.
There will be a lot of innovation in this space and will require the support and co-operation of our customers particularly Supermarkets who drive the demand for secondary packaging.
Our carbon footprint does not end at the Brewery gate but only as it enters the throat of our customers. We need transport to deliver the product and refrigeration in the trade and at home to keep the beer cool. Local rapid beer turnover (which keeps the beer fresher) will serve the planet well. Large volumes of small pack beer shipped around the world will become increasingly undesirable. Use of local production, electric delivery vehicles and distribution centres will all contribute to reducing GHG.
Figure 5: Turtle trapped by Hi-cone
Keeping beer in cold cellars or flash cooling in line can contribute up to 16% to the carbon footprint. The British enjoyment of warm beer (served at 120C) has a definite environmental benefit.
Figure 6: Carlsberg’s Snap Pack replaces the need for Hi-cone saving plastic and the planet
er environmental performance as part of quality and will expect products to be produced in a sustainable way.
Breweries look as if they are in a good place to invest and carry out the necessary improvements to reduce their carbon footprint by 90% by 2050 using regenerative agriculture, renewable energy and light weighting and recycling packaging. However, this data does not consider the emissions by consumers and trade.
If we are to keep climate change below 1.50C and achieve carbon zero by 2050 everyone will have to play their part.
Policy from Local and National Governments must create the conditions to encourage Industry and Consumers to embrace and support environmental programmes. They can influence the agenda through laws and regulations and subsidies to encourage good practices.
Profit – For any business to survive it must make a profit that requires producing products that are required at a price and quality people are willing to buy. Increasingly stake holders in the business such as Consumers, Investors and Suppliers will considPeople can be both part of the problem and part of the solution. As Brewers we interface with our employees and customers, and we can encourage them to come on our environmental journey to a greener sustainable future.
It is up to all of us to take responsibility and look after and cherish our planet and make it safe for our children and our children’s children.
