Lion is now Australia’s first large-scale carbon neutral brewer, offsetting its remaining organisational carbon footprint across its Australian beer business, and reducing its carbon footprint by 30,000 tonnes.
The brewer has achieved a 28 per cent reduction – around 30,000 tonnes – in its absolute carbon footprint of 106,000 tonnes of CO2 in 2015, and is on track to reach its goal to reduce its footprint by 30 per cent by 2025. It will also commit to using 100 per cent renewable electricity to brew its beers in the same timeframe.
Lion’s ‘whole brewery’ reduction approach includes energy efficiency initiatives, biogas utilisation, rooftop solar, renewable energy power purchase agreements, as well as providing brewers grain to reduce livestock emissions.
“By resetting our emissions to net zero, we’re sending a strong message to our people and our supply chain that we are deepening our collective responsibility to measure, manage and reduce our emissions, and we remain fully committed to doing so, despite the challenges we are facing in our business and across the industry as a result of COVID-19,” said Lion CEO Stuart Irvine.
“We see offsetting our emissions as a last lever while we continue to look for ways to reduce our overall carbon emissions right across our supply chain over the longer term.
“Our breweries continue to push the boundaries of efficiency and adopt industry-leading innovation. Speed is of the essence in stabilising the climate. That is why we are effectively throwing a safety net over our remaining operational CO2 footprint - giving consumers the confidence that our range of fantastic beers – from XXXX GOLD, to Tooheys New and Little Creatures - will be produced in carbon neutral breweries.
Lion has invested in a total of five projects, including in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, forest regeneration in New South Wales, forest protection in New Zealand, renewable energy in India, and the Kulera Landscape REDD+ Program in Malawi.
The brewer’s sustainability initiatives were further discussed in Food & Drink Business April 2020, while also ranking in at #4 in Australia’s Top 100 Food & Drink Companies 2019 report.
