Distillers urged to curb peat in whisky
Makers of some of the world’s most popular whiskies are being asked to curb use of the peat that gives many favourites their distinctive taste.
Diageo, the drinks company, is being asked to change its production practices on the island of Islay – where it produces its Lagavulin single malt – to help combat climate change.
The island is renowned for the peaty taste of its west-coast whiskies.
But, with the COP26 environment conference looming in Glasgow in November, Naturescot, Scotland’s environment protection agency, has asked for urgent discussions with Diageo about its use of the Castlehill site.
The agency says digging and burning peat “has the potential to release hundreds of years of stored carbon back into the atmosphere”.
Castlehill, a 1,000-acre site bought by Naturescot in the 1980s with extraction rights granted to Diageo to support the whisky industry and prevent damage to other peatlands on the island, will produce significant carbon emissions if peat-cutting continues, an agency report has found.
Naturescot said the peat extraction rights were granted to Diageo as a sacrifice to protect other more important peat bogs on Islay.