BREWDOG has been accused of having “no morals” by a union following it scrapping part of its carbon neutral policy.
The Scottish brewery announced on Tuesday it will exit the carbon credit market in a move that has been criticised by Unite Hospitality who say the firm have gone back on its word.
The carbon credit market is a scheme which funds third parties to undertake projects like forestry management and tree planting and are purchased by companies to cancel out their carbon footprint.
Brewdog has said the market has “become unsustainable” as costs have gone “through the roof”.
By leaving the Scottish drinks firm will effectively end its carbon negative status.
The move means the company can no longer claim that it is carbon neutral on its beer cans and other products.
Unite the union has called out the beer firm, based in the north east of Scotland, for having no morals as they also blasted Brewdog in January for pulling out of the Living Wage Employer scheme.
On a post online the union said: “The CEO of BrewDog has just emailed all workers confirming that the company are ‘exiting the carbon credit market’ meaning that their status as a carbon negative company will ‘lapse’.
“From the real living wage to the environment, this company has no morals.”
In a sustainability report, which was released on Tuesday, Brewdog bosses outlined the reasoning why the company is no longer purchasing the credits.
They vowed to “double down” on their own sustainability efforts while stating some schemes in the carbon market were “highly questionable” and even “non-existent”.
The report said: “Unfortunately, over the past few years the carbon market has become, well, unsustainable.
“The market has grown exponentially as companies and governments look to offset their emissions.
“As a consequence, there has been a flood of low quality schemes that are dirt cheap but where the carbon benefit is highly questionable, and maybe even non-existent.
“At the same time, the number of high-quality, properly verified schemes has dwindled and the costs have gone through the roof.
“In fact, the cost is now so astronomical that the only way for BrewDog to sustain a carbon negative claim is at the expense of our own sustainability initiatives.
“We absolutely will not invest in low quality schemes.”
The report adds that the business will “not press pause on our efforts to reduce emissions.”
It added: “Some people will be disappointed that we’ll be relinquishing our carbon negative claim, but the use of funds we’d otherwise spend on carbon offsets is better invested in facilitating the decarbonisation of our process.”
