The reason? Hours of poring over spreadsheets gathering data about my brewery’s carbon dioxide emissions, water use, plastic recycling, energy efficiency, brewing efficiency… to name just a few.
It’s the three-yearly cycle of reapplying for our B Corporation status: the global corporate mark that demonstrates a company’s ESG achievements. My data blindness is definitely worth it, though (I keep reminding myself!), because the certification has brought us multiple benefits.
From operating more efficiently and reducing overheads to attracting customers and job seekers – the cumulative effects are significant. Plus it’s enabled us to enter more business awards and enjoy the associated publicity.
We’ve noticed many awards are now requiring sustainability activities as standard, not just the environmental/CSR categories. This year, we’ve won Sustainability Award in this year’s SIBA Business Awards and the CSR Award in the C2S Southwest Business Awards.
Top 10% performance
Our data, plus the carbon footprint carried out by sustainability consultants, Zevero, show we’ve reduced the brewery and taproom’s carbon dioxide emissions to an industry standard that we’re super pleased with (top 10% performance, litres/CO2).
With the current heatwave sparking debate about climate change, I’m delighted to know we’re doing our bit to tackle this human-made problem.
The hotter weather resulting from the changing climate may seem appealing but the high temperatures tend to keep many people at home, meaning our taproom and sales income go down.
And it’s tough enough at the moment for hospitality, with a constant battle to attract customers, sell beer and increase profits.
Yes, there have always been heatwaves (who remembers the scorcher of 1976?). What’s different is the frequency and the Earth’s average temperature that scientists calculate is now 1.36oC higher than the 1800s.
When extreme temperatures occur, the law of averages means they’ll be higher than even 50 years ago. Plus, heatwaves are more frequent and more intense.
Top tips
Climate change seems such a huge problem that it’s easy to think the solutions must be equally as big. However, plenty are do-able even for a small pub so here are some of my top tips for straight-forward things you could do:
- Switching to a renewable energy supplier makes a massive difference in one easy go
- Ensure you use LED bulbs: they use up to 85% less electricity than the old light bulbs and can run with no maintenance for more than a decade
- Getting rid of any draughts, such as with draught excluders, makes a big difference to energy costs
- Can you reduce the heating by 1 or 2 degrees? This small change saves a surprising amount of energy and money
- Switch off vending machines dispensing non-perishables overnight: a timer plug could make this easy
- Only use ChatGPT when necessary: AI uses up to 30 times more energy than a Google search
- Ask your staff? They may have noticed things you’ve missed. Surveys show staff want their employees to be more sustainable.
For more ideas, read our Sustainability in Pubs guide.
“To inspire positive change” is one of Stroud Brewery’s missions – walking the walk and sharing our knowledge to help other pubs and brewers become greener.
The next step is to share how we’re supporting local communities as pubs are ideally placed to take a leading role in building stronger communities. Watch this space…
