Sustainable sipping: How the drinks industry can reduce its carbon footprint

People & Profit

Just how sustainable is your happy hour? The beverage industry is among those facing pressure to mitigate its impact on the environment. In 2021, it accounted for 3.8 percent of global carbon emissions. We take a closer look in this edition of People & Profit.

Drinks sustainability consultant Anne Jones says both packaging and raw materials are key to reducing the industry's carbon footprint. "Every drink starts its life in a field, it's a very agricultural product. Although the journey from field to glass can be very complicated, we have to look at it holistically. We have to remember that there are two key influences that the drinks industry has on the environment. Packaging is obviously one of the most influential from a carbon footprint perspective, but we also have to think about biodiversity."

When it comes to water sustainability, she notes that "the drinks industry is probably at the forefront of the impact of climate change in this sense because it is so dependent on water".

Following the inaugural "Sustainability in Drinks" conference in London, Jones says there is growing momentum to tackle the industry's problems.

"People often say that sustainability can be expensive and actually I don't believe that is the case (…) Sustainability is about efficiency and prudent use of our resources. What's expensive, I think, is change. So what we're seeing is a drinks industry that is collaborating better than ever before to learn from each other and to understand how to drive change as an industry."