Bowler, A.L. orcid.org/0000-0003-3209-2774, Rodgers, S., Meng, F. et al. (3 more authors) (2024) Development of an open-source carbon footprint calculator of the UK craft brewing value chain. Journal of Cleaner Production, 435. 140181. ISSN 0959-6526
Abstract
Craft breweries may fall behind large brewing companies in reducing the carbon footprints of their value chains due to limited resources, financial constraints, and a lack of technical knowledge to fully understand their emissions. However, by increasing their awareness of the impact of their entire value chains, craft breweries can accelerate the decarbonisation of the industry by creating competition among breweries to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. This work developed a freely available carbon calculator (10.6084/m9.figshare.22758692) using transparent, open-source data which may be used for benchmarking and identifying opportunities for emission reductions in UK craft breweries as well as providing a reference point for future carbon footprint analyses of global brewing value chains. The carbon footprint for craft brewing was calculated for a wide range of packaging types across three realistic scenarios (low, medium, and high carbon footprints) based on collected data and addresses the discrepancies between values reported in previous literature. Overall, the calculated carbon footprints ranged between 205 (20 L steel kegs, low carbon footprint scenario) and 1483 (single-use, 0.33 L glass bottles, high carbon footprint scenario) gCO2e per litre of beer. Novel hotspots (including wort boiling, the packaging process in a brewery, and the contribution of secondary and tertiary packaging) were identified. The overwhelming contribution of Scope 3 emissions (contributing between 57 and 95 % of the total carbon footprint) further emphasised the need to provide increased knowledge to craft breweries.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Carbon footprint; Craft brewing; Greenhouse gas emissions; Scope 3 emissions; Value chains; Beer production |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Food Science and Nutrition (Leeds) > FSN Nutrition and Public Health (Leeds) The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Food Science and Nutrition (Leeds) > FSN Colloids and Food Processing (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Jul 2024 15:40 |
Last Modified: | 10 Jul 2024 15:45 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.140181 |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:214600 |