Friday 8 January 2021

UK’s distillery industry lands £10m of new funding to drive decarbonisation

The UK Government has unveiled £10 million of new funding to help the nation's whisky and other spirit distilleries cut carbon emissions, support new green jobs and work towards net zero.

The new wave of funding is expected to help distilleries cut carbon dioxide emissions by nearly a million tonnes every year, a reduction roughly equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road.

It aims to help businesses ramp up research and development required to switch to low carbon fuels such as hydrogen, biomass, geothermal power and repurposed waste.

A total of 17 distilleries will receive between £44,000 and £75,000 in the first phase of funding - 11 of these are located in Scotland and six are based in England.

Energy and Clean Growth Minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, said: “Building back greener from the pandemic is something we can all raise a toast to.

“Every business can play a part in the green industrial revolution and this funding will allow UK distilleries to lead the way by making their production cleaner while also creating jobs.”

The government highlights the distillery industry is a vital part of the national economy - it grew by 20% in 2019 and currently supports 40,000 jobs across the UK.