Diageo unveils plans for carbon neutral brewery
The new facility on a greenfield site in Littleconnell, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, will brew lagers and ales including Rockshore, Harp, Hop House 13, Smithwick’s, Kilkenny and Carlsberg.
When fully operational the site will have a capacity of 2m hectolitres and will be powered with 100% renewable energy. Diageo said it would harness the latest process technology to minimise overall energy and water consumption. This will enable the brewery to avoid up to 15,000 metric tons of carbon emissions annually.
Landmark
As the production of lagers and ales is transferred to the new facility it will enable its St James’s Gate brewery in Dublin to increase the production of Guinness to meet global demand.
Up to 1,000 jobs are being created during the construction of the site, and 50 once built.
Colin O'Brien, category head – Global Beer Supply, Diageo said: “Today is a landmark day for Diageo in Ireland. Our plans for a new, state-of-the-art brewery in Kildare, and the developments at St. James’s Gate, will enable growth in overall beer exports from Ireland.”
“We are fully committed to embedding sustainability across our business from grain to glass and this announcement represents the next step in our integrated approach towards achieving one of Diageo’s Society 2030: Spirit of Progress commitments by becoming carbon neutral in our direct operations.”
Planning application
Diageo will submit a planning application to Kildare County Council in September this year and, if successful, plans to commence brewing in 2024 following a construction period of approximately two years.
In April Diageo has announced that Nuno Teles, currently President of the Diageo Beer Company (DBC) in North America, is to take over as managing director of Great Britain on 1 July 2022.
Recently, Diageo revealed it was investing £40.5m to expand capacity at its packaging facilities in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Runcorn, England, which is set to support the growth of Guinness Draught and Guinness Zero.
