BrewDog to relinquish carbon negative status

BrewDog is preparing to drop its carbon negative status as a result of the “astronomical” costs related to purchasing carbon credits.

In an interim update to its Make Earth Great Again sustainability report, published yesterday, the pub and brewer revealed it will “step away from buying carbon credits and double down on our emissions reduction strategy and investment in the Lost Forest”.

The Lost Forest was founded in 2020 and refers to over 9,000 acres of land in the Scottish Highlands dedicated to BrewDog’s own reforestation project, which saw 438,950 trees planted there last year in partnership with Scottish Woodlands.

The group also gave up its status as an ethical B Corp company in December 2022, less than two years after it joined the scheme.

The B Lab charity had requested additional measures, which BrewDog said were “not something [they] could do at this time”.

In the latest report, BrewDog stated: “Over the past few years the carbon market has become, well, unsustainable… As a consequence, there has been a flood of low-quality schemes that are dirt cheap but where the carbon benefit is highly questionable and maybe even non-existent. 

“At the same time, the number of high-quality, properly verified schemes has dwindled and the costs have gone through the roof. In fact, the cost is now so astronomical that the only way for BrewDog to sustain a carbon negative claim is at the expense of our own sustainability initiatives.”

It added: “Some people will be disappointed that we’ll be relinquishing our carbon negative claim, but the use of funds we’d otherwise spend on carbon offsets is better invested in facilitating the decarbonisation of our process.”

The group reiterated it will “not press pause on our efforts to reduce emissions”, outlining its continued investment in its anaerobic digester facility in Ellon and its continued efforts with Lost Forest.

BrewDog will stop displaying its Positive Planet carbon negative accreditation from November.

Image: Simon Collins/Shutterstock