We’re delighted to have been invited to the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow as one of the finalists in the Heroes of Net Zero competition. 

We’re off to Glasgow to bang the climate change drum for small businesses everywhere at the forthcoming UN Climate Change Conference at the beginning of November.

We are one of 5 microbusinesses countrywide (2-10 employees) that have been selected as finalists for the Heroes of Net Zero competition launched by BEIS (Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy). The competition was created to ‘celebrate the small businesses taking the most innovative action to go green and cut their own greenhouse gas emissions to  become a net zero business by 2050!’ 

Entrants were asked to explain what steps they had taken to reduce emissions, what difference it had made and what their plans for the future are. The judges were impressed with the creative efforts the brewery is taking to reduce its own business greenhouse gases and achieve Net Zero.

We had set out to be carbon neutral from day one with a strategy based on ‘sustainability through innovation’.  It therefore started out with relatively low emissions and was effectively off-grid. It avoided carbon debt (accrued in prior emissions from assets such as new buildings and stainless steel) by building the brewery in reclaimed stone farm buildings and by using repurposed second-hand stainless steel tanks and pipework.

Our respective backgrounds in IT and Engineering have effectively been repurposed to create new technologies which will reduce both emissions and energy use. Working with FabLabs (part of Plymouth College of Art) we are developing natural CO2 harvesting from their fermentation so that they can eliminate industrial CO2 – a by-product of the oil and gas industry – completely from their production. In parallel we are developing a new approach to energy generation, harvesting and management in the expansion of the brewery. Both projects will produce affordable technologies which will be made available to other businesses in the food and beverage sector.

Asked how he felt about being a finalist Barnaby Harris said: “After what has been a very difficult year and a half for businesses like ours in the hospitality sector, being a Hero of NET Zero is a huge shot in the arm for us. We feel it has validated the hard work we have put into taking an innovative approach to truly sustainable, carbon-neutral, production and to focus on local markets. We are delighted because this will help us to fast track the development of our own innovations as well as inspire others to seek out new and more environmentally friendly ways of doing business.”

For further information call Barnaby or Tim on 01803 762730