Scotch whisky producer InchDairnie Distillery has earned the ESG-focused B Corp certification.
The Fife-based company said today (20 March) that it had scored 95 points out of a maximum possible 200 for the status following a near two-year assessment. The minimum requirement to obtain the certification is 80 points.
“At a time when whisky production faces increasing scrutiny around resource use, environmental impact and supply chain, frameworks such as B Corp are becoming an important benchmark for how distilleries can futureproof their operations,” the distiller added.
InchDairnie’s moves to mitigate the distillery’s environmental impact include “extensive” heat-recovery systems that capture and reuse energy and water across the site, and sending by-products to be turned into bio-methane, which is returned to the energy grid. The business has also invested in monitoring and measurement equipment to “inform future efficiency gains across energy and water”.
“Getting B Corp certified is a big piece of work,” said the distillery’s sustainability manager, Jessica Stewart. “It’s resource-intensive and incredibly detailed, with data needed from every part of the business, and you can’t do it by yourself.
“The B Corp process challenged us to measure and formalise across many areas of the business. That rigour has been worth it, because we have learned a huge amount, and it reinforced that you can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
Earlier this week, Mast-Jägermeister detailed its switch to hybrid-furnace technology to produce a portion of the green bottles for its namesake liqueur brand. The technology combines electricity and natural gas in the glass-melting process to reduce carbon emissions.
