Why should we have to do it? As if we haven’t been put through enough financial and emotional stress the last few years. Beer duty rises, COVID-19, the energy crisis, CO2 crisis, the Portman Group, and Gen Z not drinking, now we have the environment clipping at our heels, tugging our shirts like a needy toddler saying, ” What about me?!” On a global scale, the UK craft brewing industry is tiny in overall emissions contributions. So why can’t we just carry on as normal, focus on ourselves and let everyone else focus on improving the real environment-destroying industries like fossil fuels or fast fashion? Here Chris Lewington, founder of Brew Resourceful, explains why.

We are an industry of (mostly) independent small-to-medium-sized businesses that don’t have the resources to invest in the environment. Let the others who actually cause the pollution do that.

Well, we turn up to our early shift at 6 am in -5c to wash casks outside. We mash in an imperial stout grist far too big for the mash tun, in the middle of a heatwave.

We share our daily challenges over a fresh underfill with the brewery next door, spend the little spare time we have reading brewing magazines, listening to podcasts (I hear that Modern Brewer one is good), and liking the latest wort wrangler meme.

We chose a career path based on passion, fun and fulfilment, not financial rewards. Ultimately, we care. 

That’s why we have to do it. That’s why we can’t sit around and wait for others to decarbonise the world for us. It’s us, the brewers, who must set an example to the world.

To show what an industry can do when it’s driven by good people.

We must show what collaborating openly with ‘competition’ can achieve and why an inter-industry arms race to net zero is nowhere near as impactful or financially viable as collectively reaching it together.

Committing to sustainability alone is difficult, even if you care about it. You have to care about it more than caring about yourself a lot of the time.

But when we come together and do this collectively, it becomes easier, and the rewards are greater. Sustainability means ensuring that an industry that has been around for 5,000 years continues for another.

Our legacy, as this generation of the industry is to produce world-class beers that keep society having fun and enrich the lives of our people.

But to do that we have to make sure we have a planet left to brew on and that our breweries make enough profit to stay motivated and, importantly, stay open.

What sustainability is not

I so often hear from company heads, “I can’t afford sustainability”. Sustainability isn’t just about the environment, it isn’t about spending money, it’s about ensuring your brewery and our industry continue for another 5,000 years.

And to do this we must look after our people, our planet and our profit in equal measures. You can’t afford not to be sustainable.

I constantly challenge the notion that breweries should be ploughing money into environmental projects that have inflated, or no return on investment.

This is, ironically, unsustainable. Your brewery will close long before the environment sees the benefits. Just as investing in a financial project that doesn’t reduce your carbon footprint is also unsustainable.

With all business investments you must ask — is it going to better the lives of our team? Is it going to reduce our impact on the environment?

Are we going to make a profit? If you can only answer yes to 1 of those 3, don’t invest. Measuring and analysing all 3 of those impacts will ensure you maximise investments for a truly sustainable future.

We must fight to change the narrative that sustainability isn’t for us to worry about. Contesting it with anyone who brings it up might make you that annoying brewer, but if I may borrow a tagline from my friends at Zevero: “No Beer On A Dead Planet”. So where do we start?

How do we do this?

Start with reducing your waste — and I don’t just mean your physical waste. Your operational waste; reducing utilities and raw materials represent a huge financial, environmental and team benefit with no capital required.

You can literally start right now, you already have all the skills to do this in-house and I have listed for free the majority of tools you need on my website (www.brewresourceful.com).

“It’s us, the brewers, who must set an example to the world.”

Communicate and collaborate. We are one of the most collaborative industries in the world, and that’s our major strength, use it. Ask others what’s worked for them, and intuitively share successes and failures with others before they ask.

Share more of what you’re doing publicly, too. Host presentations at events, and talk about what went well and what didn’t on your latest energy-saving initiative or CAPEX spend. Be more open than you have ever been before.

That includes talking candidly about the financial aspect of sustainability. Carbon reductions are important, but so is how much money your brewery saves over 10 years.

We need to share what has made a good return on investment and what didn’t, so we can collectively learn and make better decisions.

So why do we have to do it? Why make the effort? Because we are good people, who care deeply about what we do and the industry we work in.

We’ve overcome countless challenges in a very short space of time, and if we continue to work together we can be an example of a truly sustainable industry held up by three core pillars: People. Planet. Profit.

Chris Lewington has spent his career working with breweries of all sizes, helping them reduce costs, improve efficiency, and lower carbon emissions. Over the past two years, his company, Brew Resourceful, has worked with leading names in the industry such as Northern Monk, Full Circle, Murphy & Sons, and Vault City to deliver practical, process-based solutions that enhance profitability and sustainability. Chris is also a regular speaker at global brewing industry events, sharing his expertise on decarbonising operations and creating more resource-efficient breweries.”