We’ve all seen the worrying reports in the news recently about the effects we’re having on the planet and the need for serious, immediate change in the way that industries work in order to protect the environment and mitigate the effects of global heating and climate change.
We were delighted, therefore, to receive some fantastic news from our friends at Nc’nean distillery this week - Scotland’s first fully organic distillery is now the UK’s first Net Zero Emissions distillery!
Nc’nean take their environmental responsibilities incredibly seriously, committing themselves to releasing regular Sustainability reports with in-depth analyses of the company’s efforts to improve its carbon footprint and reduce waste, conserve water and eliminate chemical pollutants. The report for 2020 has now been released and it brings some very welcome good news.
You can read Nc’nean’s 2020 Sustainability Report in full for yourself here, but the key points in a nutshell are as follows:
- Nc’nean’s whisky is organic, made with organic barley - each bottle of Nc’nean accounts for two square metres of biodiversity and soil health
- Nc’nean’s distilling operations use 100% renewable energy and are certified net zero for carbon emissions
- Nc’nean’s total annual carbon footprint, including supplier emissions, is less than that produced by a single return flight from London to New York
- This carbon footprint is offset by carbon removal projects - planting trees in the Highlands - making the distillery and its supply chain totally carbon neutral
It’s not just about carbon, either - Nc’nean’s sustainability efforts go much further.
- The distillery is also Zero Waste, reusing, composting or recycling 99.97% of their site waste
- 80% of the distillery’s process water is continually recycled, giving the company a water footprint of 35 litres of water used per litre of alcohol produced
- All of the bottles for Nc’nean’s whisky are made with 100% recycled glass
There’s more detail on all of this stuff in the Nc’nean Sustainability report, which is a really worthwhile and inspiring read for whisky fans who care about the environment - and that should be all of us. There’s a lot of work still to be done in this field but it’s great that there are companies like Nc’nean who are showing the way forward.
You can help support Nc’nean’s sustainability project by buying their whisky - the distillery has been releasing their Organic Single Malt in small batches since the end of last year, and we still have a few bottles of Nc’nean Organic Batch 6 and Batch 7 in stock.