£ 10m from the Green Fund for Scottish Distilleries

The new UK government’s program provides an additional amount of £ 10m to help UK distilleries develop eco-friendly technology and make them carbon neutral. These measures are intended to help traditional Scottish distilleries to use renewable energy sources such as hydrogen or biomass.

‘Our plan to deliver a carbon-neutral future doesn’t just mean new jobs in new industries but helping some of our oldest industries to play their part as well. Scottish distilleries will not only be producing iconic drinks enjoyed the world over, but will now also be blazing a trail by developing cutting-edge, low-carbon technologies in the process,’ said Kwasi Kwarteng, Minister of Energy and Clean Growth, announcing the opening of the Green Distilling fund. ‘We want to harness the tremendous innovation of our distilleries so customers can enjoy their favourite tipple in the knowledge they are helping us to tackle climate change,’ he added.

In 2019, the UK spirits industry grew by 20 percent, showing the sector's enormous potential, also as a pioneer of green change. The funding has been welcomed by trade organisations in both Scotland and Northern Ireland.

‘The Scotch Whisky industry welcomed the new Green Distilling Fund announced in the March Budget as an important step on our sustainability journey. The use of innovative technology is among several approaches that the industry could adopt as it works towards net-zero by 2045, as outlined in our recent net zero report.’ Says Dagmar Droogsma, director of industry at the Scotch Whisky Association.

Green distillery operations in Scotland and the UK as a whole are expected to contribute to the legally binding UK goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050. 10 million from the UK government fund will help the industry continue to work on reducing emissions, adopting new green technology and create more jobs.

Source: Herald Scotland