Whisky Industry Launches New Environmental Strategy

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has launched a new Environmental Strategy aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting sustainability across the industry.

The refreshed strategy has four themes which aims to broaden the industry's remit "to reflect an evolving world and changing business operations".

The voluntary targets include reducing energy use and emissions, with 80% of primary energy coming from non-fossil fuels, such as solar power and anaerobic digestion, by 2050. This figure was 3% in 2008 and increased to 17% by 2014.

In addition, distilling water efficiency will improve by 10% by 2020, while the industry will also aim to embrace a 'circular economy' in the supply chain by 2020 with no waste going to landfill and 100% of product packaging becoming recyclable.


Other plans include sustainable land use, by securing the supply of high-quality raw materials, namely cereals and wood. The SWA said this includes encouraging the use of wood sourced from sustainable oak forests to manufacture new casks.

Julie Hesketh-Laird, Deputy Chief Executive of SWA, said: "Julie Hesketh-Laird, Scotch Whisky Association deputy chief executive, said: "The refresh of the Scotch Whisky Industry Environmental Strategy is a clear sign of bold industry intentions on sustainability. Sound environmental management is an industry priority and goes hand in hand with business growth. Our strategy is collective, building on the work of individual Scotch Whisky producers.  And strong support from governments and our supply chains will be needed to help deliver on our ambitions."

Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham added: "The whisky sector has already made a significant contribution to increasing sustainability and I very much welcome this commitment to further progress. Making good whisky relies on quality ingredients and these in turn depend on our environment."

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