They aren’t at the top of the list – power plants represent nine of the 10 top EU polluters – but they are on the European Environment Agency’s list.
Cameronbridge Grain Distillery, the largest of the remaining grain distilleries in Scotland, opened in 1824 as the Haig Distillery and is owned by Diageo, is one of two on the list. The other is the Girvan Distillery, owned by William Grant & Sons.
Diageo told The Courier that the latest available figures show total organic carbon emissions released from Cameronbridge have declined significantly in recent years. Partially that’s because Diageo invested £65 million to build a renewable energy plant at the site that involved state-of-the-art technology which had never been used before at that scale in the distilling industry.
“Cameronbridge Distillery, along with every other Scotch whisky distillery, produces entirely natural by-products from distillation, specifically water, cereal and yeast,” a Diageo spokesman said.
“A large proportion of these natural residues are used in our on-site bioenergy plant to produce environmentally sustainable, renewable power for the distillery, which has significantly reduced the distillery’s environmental footprint in recent years.
“A portion of the natural residues are discharged by long-sea outfall under license by SEPA to the highest possible regulatory standards.
“Along with the rest of the Scotch whisky industry we are committed to the highest environmental standards and we have invested well over £100 million in renewable energy facilities in Scotland to make our distilleries environmentally sustainable and we will continue to work to further improve our environmental performance.”
Comment: We share this with you not to heap any shame on either Diageo or William Grant, but simply because you can expect U.S. environment groups to take note and look at U.S. bev/al facilities.