Slàinte Mhath
Looking towards the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow this year, can whisky be more sustainable?
Sustainability is fast becoming the buzzword of the whisky industry
ICAN’T think of a better setting for the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) as Glasgow. It is a city with sustainability at its heart. The Dear Green Place has set a target for carbon neutrality by 2030, it aims to be one of the greenest cities in Europe through the implementation of the Sustainable Glasgow campaign, and it is fourth in the world in the Global Destination Sustainability Index.
Alongside this, despite long-held notions of a hard exterior, Glasgow is a city of compassion and friendliness with a reputation for its stellar hospitality.
Making the most of this reputation, I will wager with any reader that during the 12-day summit in November, the nightcap-partial faction of the international delegation will opt to unwind of an evening with a dram.
An alchemy of water, barley, and in some cases peat and fire, whisky is indeed the fruit of mother earth. But like any other industry, to embark on creating the product requires an energy intensive process of production, packaging and distribution.
So, what’s being done to ensure that uisge beatha isn’t disrupting the natural ecological balance that gives it life?
Well, the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), the industry’s trade body, has recently committed to reaching net-zero emissions across the sector by 2040. That’s five years ahead of the Scottish Government’s 2045 target – and 10 years before the UK Government’s target.
Furthermore, the SWA is aiming for all new product packaging used by the Scotch industry to be reusable, recyclable and compostable by 2025.
The industry also aims to take an “active role” in the wider conservation and restoration of Scotland’s peatland by 2035, and ensure all producers are within a responsible water use range by 2025.
“Whisky is indeed the fruit earth” of mother
“The industry’s new sustainability strategy is both ambitious and achievable,” says Karen Betts, the SWA’S chief executive. “A huge amount of work has gone into its development and is now going into its implementation.”
And that implementation is where vibrant examples of ingenious Scots innovation can be found.
The SWA point out their renewed paper is built on 10 years of solid progress, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by more than a third.
The Glenmorangie distillery in Tain is a fine example of eco-mindedness in action. Located on the edge of the Dornoch Firth, it’s cheek-by-jowl with an area of water designated as a Special Area of Conservation.
Glenmorangie won an environmental gong in 2017 for its vision to restore long-lost oyster reefs to the firth to enhance biodiversity. It acts in tandem with the distillery’s anaerobic digestion (AD) plant.
The AD plant is purifying about 95% of the distillery’s waste water, with the remaining five per cent of the organic waste to be naturally cleaned – by oysters.
Oysters are the kings of filtering, brilliant at churning through organic materials, thriving on the key elements, and purifying the rest in the process. By later this year, the ambition is to have 200,000 oysters in the Dornoch Firth as a result the project – which means that Glenmorangie will have achieved zero impact on Dornoch Firth waste.
Way out west, marine energy company Nova Innovation has just announced a ground-breaking project to produce Scotch whisky distilled by tidal power in the Sound of Islay.
A series of underwater turbines between the isles of Islay and Jura are to be installed, creating renewable power generated by the tide to power local distilleries. Meanwhile, back on the glorious terra firma of Speyside, Chivas, along with other whisky producers, have invested in the natural gas network in the area. This will tackle the issue of the distillers’ reliance on fuel oil because of their relatively remote locations. In short, this small snapshot of examples demonstrates that the SWA’S big ambitions are underpinned by solid substance and actions that are already underway. “The eyes of the world will be on Scotland, and on ours and others’ efforts to reverse the damaging impacts of climate change,” Karen says.
“We are looking forward to showcasing the whisky industry’s contribution to global efforts to ensure our generation can arrest climate change and secure the future of our planet.”