BrewDog calls for carbon neutral operators

Carbon negative brewer and on-trade operator BrewDog has welcomed the first partners to its Planet First Locals collective, who have pledged to reduce emissions by at least 15% over the next 12 months.

This follows the announcement of the initiative by co-founder James Watt, on social media in April, and will see the business remove all emissions created by the collective.

The opportunity is open to any hospitality venue that pours two or more BrewDog beers on draft.

Supported by third-party partner, Small World Consulting, the brewer will provide support to estimate the venue’s carbon footprint, then put in place a carbon reduction plan.

For any small business partner that takes the pledge, BrewDog will remove all remaining calculated emissions from the atmosphere via its Lost Forest and Dark Forest Projects.

To further support the members of the Planet First Locals collective, and drive this message with customers, BrewDog is supplying POS, enabling venues to promote their business as carbon neutral.

They will also feature on BrewDog's website as part of the new planet-friendly venue-finder.

Climate crisis

“We are facing a climate crisis," says Watt. "Monumental change needs to happen now and industry needs to be that driving force.

"We are the world’s only carbon negative brewery, but we also want to be the catalyst for wider change, that’s why we have introduced Planet First Locals – to help our customers reduce their impact on the planet and become part of the solution. By encouraging them to make small changes and working in partnership to offset all their calculated carbon emissions, we aim to give people more planet-friendly places to hang out”.

Businesses already signed up include Market Halls, Brewhouse & Kitchen, Pub Love, High Spirits Leisure, Picture House Cinemas and Urban Village Pubs.

“We’ve worked closely with BrewDog for a while and always been impressed by the brand’s tenacity and love of craft beer," says Pub Love founder Ben Stackhouse. 

"Over the last year we’ve watched with interest as that commitment has turned to our planet. Not only is it doing all it can to improve the sustainability of its business, making craft beer a force for good, but also encouraging and helping customers like us to consider the changes we need to make.

“As a small group of hostel-pubs we have been trying to limit our impact on the environment and launched our own planet-positive happy hour in April this year. With the support of BrewDog to not only further develop our plan for change, but also offset our outstanding carbon emissions, we hope to become carbon neutral within the next year. It’s a unique and important initiative and I’d encourage any pub group or independent publican to get involved.”

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