The Government has announced a fund worth £10 million to help UK distilleries move to more environmentally friendly production processes.
The announcement was made by Energy and Clean Growth Minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, who said, "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. 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."
Distilleries will be able to use the funding to move to low carbon fuels, such as hydrogen and biomass, which is estimated could help to significantly cut emissions from the sector - roughly the equivalent of the emissions from 100,000 cars.
Trade bodies in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the two countries within the UK containing most of the UK's distilleries, have welcomed the news. Dagmar Droogsma, Director of Industry at the Scotch Whiskey Association, said "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.
"This Fund will provide us with the opportunity to put forward bids for demonstration projects for so-far untested technologies, helping the Scotch Whisky industry play its part in reaching Scotland’s emissions targets."
The funding is the latest move by the Government to try and encourage the UK to move to cleaner modes of production, construction and transport in order to help the UK reach it's legally binding net-zero carbon emissions goal in 2050.
