Sustainability, when done right, isn’t just good for the planet—it’s good for business. Here George Wade, the co-founder and chief commercial officer at Zevero, explains how product carbon footprints give breweries the tools to cut emissions, cut costs, and stay ahead of both customers and regulators.

Sustainability in brewing has come a long way from just slapping a “locally sourced” label on a bottle and calling it a day. The conversation has moved past feel-good marketing—buyers, regulators, and even your own customers now expect more than vague promises.

But let’s be real: measuring carbon emissions isn’t exactly the most exciting part of running a brewery. You didn’t get into this industry to crunch numbers, you got into it to make great beer. And yet, understanding the carbon footprint of each brew you produce could be the difference between leading the industry forward and getting left behind.

What’s a Product Carbon Footprint, and Why Should You Care?

You’ve likely heard of a corporate carbon footprint, which measures the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from your brewery’s operations, including brewing processes, transportation, and packaging. A Product Carbon Footprint (PCF) takes it a step further, measuring emissions at an individual product level throughout its entire lifecycle

Think of it like brewing a recipe:

• Raw materials & packaging → The emissions from growing barley, hops, and yeast, plus water usage and the production of packaging materials like bottles, cans, or kegs.
• Brewery production → The energy used for mashing, fermenting, cooling, and other brewing processes.
• Distribution & beyond → The emissions from transporting your beer to retailers or consumers, refrigeration during storage, and the disposal or recycling of packaging after consumption.

Depending on how far down the supply chain you want to go, PCFs are measured in two main ways:

1. Cradle-to-Gate → Covers everything up until the beer leaves your brewery.
2. Cradle-to-Grave → Extends beyond your brewery, covering distribution, retail, consumption, and disposal.

While this might sound technical, it boils down to understanding your beer’s full environmental impact so you can make smarter, more sustainable business decisions.

Breweries Already Making It Work

Several leaders in the brewing industry are already using PCFs to their advantage, reducing emissions while gaining a competitive edge:

Deya Brewing has taken a data-driven approach to sustainability, measuring emissions across Scopes 1, 2, and 3 to pinpoint where reductions could have the biggest impact. By doing so, they’ve lowered their emissions intensity year over year and even introduced carbon footprint labels on their cans to keep sustainability front and center for their customers.

Jubel Beer turned PCF insights into real action, cutting emissions by 67%—a shift largely driven by moving from glass bottles to aluminum cans. They’ve also fine-tuned their brewing process, leading to a 7% reduction in carbon intensity per liter brewed in just one year.

Yakima Chief Hops has embraced carbon footprinting across its supply chain, helping brewers make more informed ingredient choices. By moving their emissions tracking from spreadsheets to a centralised system, they’re improving accuracy and setting the stage for product-level carbon footprinting, which will allow brewers to make sustainability-driven decisions at the ingredient level.

What You Can Actually Do with a PCF

Let’s cut to the chase: why should your brewery bother with PCFs? Supermarkets, distributors, and even bars are increasingly requiring suppliers to provide detailed carbon footprint data. If a buyer has to choose between two similar beers, one with clear sustainability data and one without, they’ll likely go for the one that meets their targets.

And it’s not just buyers—regulations are tightening. The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) in the EU has introduced stringent requirements for companies to disclose carbon footprints in detail. The UK is increasing carbon reporting standards, making it essential for breweries to measure and disclose emissions. Even in the US, proposed SEC climate disclosure rules could mean stricter reporting for breweries selling in major retail chains.

Adopting PCFs early means staying ahead of regulations rather than scrambling to comply later and risking potential penalties.

Make Smarter Brewing Decisions

Product carbon footprints help take the guesswork out of sustainability and serve as a strategic decision-making tool. With precise emissions data, you can: Refine your recipes before brewing, adjusting ingredients to lower emissions without affecting taste.

Evaluate packaging options like glass bottles vs. aluminum cans, considering factors like recyclability and production emissions. Choose suppliers based on actual sustainability metrics rather than vague marketing claims.

Imagine being able to predict the carbon footprint of a new beer before you even brew it. That’s the level of control PCFs give you.

Track Your Progress & Future-Proof Your Brewery

One of the biggest challenges in sustainability is proving that you’re actually making progress. It’s one thing to set goals, but how do you show real, measurable improvements? 

PCFs provide a clear benchmark for tracking reductions over time, allowing breweries to pinpoint where emissions are coming from—whether it’s high-impact ingredients, inefficient brewing methods, or packaging choices. Instead of guessing where to make changes, you’re making informed, strategic decisions that have real impact.

At the same time, sustainability is becoming a bigger part of brand identity. Zevero’s 2023 research found that consumers are paying more attention to the environmental impact of the brands they support.

By transparently sharing your PCF data and outlining the steps you’re taking to lower emissions, you’re not just meeting regulations–you’re building credibility, trust, and brand loyalty with a growing base of conscious customers.

PCFs as Part of a Bigger Sustainability Strategy

Product carbon footprints aren’t just about measurement; they’re the foundation of a smarter, more sustainable brewing strategy.

With clear emissions data, breweries can find efficiencies, cut costs, and reduce waste, whether that’s optimising brewing processes, sourcing lower-carbon ingredients, or improving energy use. Over time, small changes add up, turning sustainability into a business advantage rather than an obligation.

Most importantly, PCFs help shift sustainability from a reactive process (“We should probably measure this…”) to a proactive one (“Let’s design lower-carbon beers from the start.”).

Instead of treating emissions as an afterthought, breweries that embed footprinting into their decision-making can lead the charge in shaping a more sustainable industry while staying profitable in the process.

Making PCFs Happen (Without the Headache)

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to be a sustainability expert to make this work. With the right approach, you can integrate carbon footprinting into your existing operations without adding unnecessary complexity.

Today, there are platforms designed to streamline emissions measurement, helping breweries collect, analyse, and act on footprint data without getting lost in spreadsheets or technical jargon.

These tools take the heavy lifting out of carbon accounting, making it easier to understand the impact of ingredients, packaging, and brewing processes—and more importantly, identify practical ways to reduce emissions.

For breweries looking to take a data-driven approach to sustainability, investing in a carbon management platform is a logical next step.

Sustainability, when done right, isn’t just good for the planet—it’s good for business. Product carbon footprints give breweries the tools to cut emissions, cut costs, and stay ahead of both customers and regulators. And in an industry built on craft, quality, and constant innovation, that’s an opportunity worth raising a glass to.