Lesson 2 - Environmental Sustainability
In this lesson we will discuss key ways to understand and improve the sustainability of brewery operations. This will include understanding the global context for sustainability, the key environmental sustainability impacts of producing beer and opportunities for improving the sustainability of beer and brewing operations.
What is Sustainable?
Although there are many frameworks available, there is no one set of hard and fast rules on how to achieve sustainability either for a brewery or the wider world.
The Brundtland Report in 1987 defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
So far, we have not been doing a great job at this. Other frameworks have needed to be developed to help us create new ways to achieve greater sustainability.
The Triple Bottom Line was conceived by John Elkington in the mid-1990s and is often adopted as a framework by businesses to try to balance social, economic and environmental demands and performance.
You can find out more about it here:
Ultimately, whichever definition is used, sustainability is about finding ways for people to live well while trying not to exceed our planetary boundaries. As brewers in a rapidly changing world, achieving this is an iterative process. Wanting to continuously understand the areas of impact or waste generation, finding solutions to eliminate or reduce these, trying new things, learning, improving and finding innovative ways to mitigate negative effects, and maximising the positive impacts of our products are all positive ways to act more sustainably.
To understand the significant environmental sustainability challenges we are facing, and why they matter to us as brewers, we need to take a broader view by looking at the global picture through the UN Sustainable Development Goals.