A South London brewery has combined regenerative farming with recaptured raw ingredients to produce a completely carbon negative beer without carbon offsetting.
Gipsy Hill Brewery’s new Swell Lager and Trail Pale were independently analysed by carbon specialists Zevero to measure their climate impact across the full lifecycle, from the growing of the ingredients to the end-of-life of the packaging.
The consultancy concluded the beers have carbon footprints of -40g CO2e and -30g CO2e respectively, thanks largely to how they are made.
Regenerative farming
Firstly, the beers are brewed using barley grown through regenerative methods which capture more carbon in the soil than is released into the atmosphere, through methods such as intercropping, cover cropping and reduced tillage to improve soil health.
Secondly, the hops in the beer are sourced from the recapture and reuse of hop material that is removed after fermentation from a previous batch of beer. This material would previously have been thrown away. The combination of the two innovations means the beers generate a net benefit for the climate without the need for carbon offsetting.
‘Model for moving away from reliance on offsets’
“We have always tried to make sure our beer has a positive impact, and that’s why we have actively sought to introduce new innovations to the brewing process and work with the most innovative producers to push the boundaries of sustainable brewing,” explained Gipsy Hill co-founder Sam McMeeken.
Ben Richardson, CEO of Zevero, said Gipsy Hill’s example should be seen as a “model for the whole industry to move away from the reliance on offsets in climate programmes.”
Carbon offsetting, while an important solution in the net zero transition, has come under intensive scrutiny in recent months due to mounting concerns over the true impact of many offsetting practices.
