BrewDog gives up ethical B Corp certification

BrewDog has given up its status as an ethical B Corp company, less than two years after it joined the scheme.

The pub and brewer gained the certification, which recognises a company’s social and environmental commitments, in February 2021.

BrewDog told The Caterer it had decided to “step aside” from the scheme “for the time being”.

It said it had given up the label because the B Lab charity “had requested additional measures from BrewDog and the BrewDog board decided that these were not something we could do at this time”.

B Lab confirmed the decision but said it could not comment on companies that had left its “community”.

B Corp businesses are required to sign up to targets around carbon neutrality and pay and have to reverify every three years.

Last year BrewDog was hit by claims of a toxic working culture after more than 100 former employees signed an open letter alleging there was a “culture of fear” within the business.

The company hired consultancy firm Wiser to conduct a review of the business and admitted it had made mistakes, while chief executive James Watt said he took personal responsibility for the situation.

The brand was also criticised for its decision to run an advertising campaign highlighting alleged human rights abuses around the FIFA World Cup while still screening the football games in its bars.

BrewDog, which prides itself on being carbon negative, said it was focused on its ethical Blueprint profit share scheme.

“Though we remain committed to the values upheld by B Lab, we believe our business is currently best served by focusing on the Blueprint, as well as very specific sustainability targets related to our Lost Forest project and the continued ramp-up of our AD facility,” the company said.

“The current crisis has taught us that we need to be laser-focused on those areas of our business that deliver the most real term value – that means the Blueprint and all that entails, in particular our commitment to our three core pillars of people, beer, planet, but also on making the operational changes that will enable us to get through the current financial crisis, while maintaining our commitment to demonstrable sustainability initiatives.”