Sustainability III - Carbon Zero, Barley Sequestration, Government Support & Smaller Brewers Perspectives

SPEAKER

Ben Richardson is the co-founder and CEO of Zevero, a carbon accounting and decarbonisation platform working with 15+ breweries across the UK to help them measure and reduce their emissions.  

SPEAKER

Barry Watts is Head of Policy and Public Affairs for the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) which represents the UK’s small and independent breweries. He is a former brewer with more than a decade’s worth of experience in lobbying and public affairs.

SPEAKER

Will Calvert is the Co-founder and Chair of Windsor & Eton Brewery and a trustee of IBD. Early career as a technical brewer for Courage after PhD with Allied Breweries, and then international operations and finance roles with Mars and in consumer / healthcare sectors. Strong supporter of local circular economics – which he promotes as a director of a community-owned pub and trustee of local Cycle Hub. Believes industry collaboration is key to making brewing trade sustainable.

SPEAKER

Stroud Brewery was launched in 2006 by Greg Pilley who had an interest in sustainability and a background in environmental biology graduating as a marine biologist. Greg previously worked with the Soil Association in their Local Food Team promoting community led food businesses.

Stroud Brewery was the chance to bring those values into enterprise and the first commitment was using malting barley grown on the Cotswolds. In 2017 they became a dedicated organic brewery, and an accredited B Corp in 2018 S which has provided a holistic measure of the business’s environmental and social performance.

SPEAKER

Dr Nigel Davies founded Maltdoctor Ltd in 2020, a specialist sustainability consultancy that creates ESG and TCFD strategies and reports, carbon footprint calculations and carbon literacy training. The business has already assisted over 200 clients in that time in malting, brewing, distilling, milling and other sectors such as film, theatre, leisure, packaging, hospitality, food and government.

For 25 years he was Director of Manufacturing, Technical and Sustainability with Muntons guiding them to achieve many international sustainability awards.  He spearheaded the establishment of farmer support groups focussed on sustainable agriculture and designed the world’s first carbon footprint tool for malting barley. Nigel is passionate about cutting through the procrastination and barriers that delay us getting on with climate protection and net zero planning. In 2022 he was the author of the RASE report ‘Decarbonising UK Cereal Production’.

SPEAKER

Neil Douglas Fuller is the Technical Director at Atlas Sustainable Soils Program. He studied soil science at Newcastle University, where he graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, with post-grad studies majoring in crop ecology, eco-system modelling, soil microbiology and nutritional bio-chemistry. He started a farm consultancy in 1986 that has been actively engaged on farming, food and nutrition projects around the world ever since. Neil’s involvement with agricultural soil carbon featured in the finals of the COP26 Climate Challenge Cup, securing the UK’s first high-integrity farm soil carbon credits dedicated to decarbonizing malting barley feedstocks. He is technical lead on the Carbon Farming Manual and the Good Soil Guide, an online reference and knowledge-sharing platform for farmers, sponsored by Yorkshire Water, which currently has subscribers in over forty countries.

Chair

David Cook is AB InBev Professor of Brewing Science at the University of Nottingham and liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Brewers.

David currently has over 20 years of experience conducting research and teaching into brewing, malting, analytical food chemistry and flavour technology. His wealth of expertise and research findings are internationally recognised and are highly valued by students and researchers alike. His current research focuses on three broad themes: Brewing Raw Materials and Beer Quality, Malting Science & Technology, and Valorisation of Biomaterials and Co-product Streams. The Cook research group has a strong track record of collaboration and sponsorship across the industry, including maltsters and multinational brewing companies.

Speaker

Stephen Livens, Policy Manager BBPA, joined the BBPA in 2010 and is responsible for developing the scientific and technical activities and policies of the Association. His remit encompasses the many technical issues that are associated with the brewery supply chain, from grain to glass, including brewery asset management, food safety for pubs and breweries, product quality and assurance and product labelling. Stephen is also involved in helping to drive the BBPA’s beer and wholesomeness agenda 

Speaker

Eddie Gadd (Ramsgate Brewery) made an early career sidestep from tunnelling to brewing in the early 90’s, joining the Firkin Brewery as an apprentice just as the company began to expand. After a couple of years brewing in London, and five years in the Netherlands, he founded the Ramsgate Brewery in 2002 and focuses on cask ale, with an engineer’s perspective on sustainability solutions

Speaker

Felix James - Co-Founder of Small Beer Brewery - followed his passion for biology and gastronomy into a brewing career with Anheuser Busch, Fuller's and latterly Sipsmith gin distillery. It was there that he met his business partner James Grundy and the two co-founded their brainchild Small Beer Brewery, inspired by the small beer of old, brewed for hydration and nutrition. Today, Small Beer specialises in producing exceptional mid-strength beer with a strong focus on environmental sustainability. The brewery was awarded B-Corp certification in 2019, funds coral life cycle research through its '1% for the Planet' membership and prides itself in bringing a balanced approach to modern drinking culture.

Speaker

Sam McMeekin is the co-Founder and CEO of Gipsy Hill Brewery. Gipsy Hill is London's Largest Independent brewery, making Hepcat as it's biggest brand. This summer GH launched the World's First carbon negative beers without using offsets. Before Gipsy Hill, Sam worked in Private Equity investing in sub-Saharan Africa. He has an MBA from London Business School and went to Stanford University for an Undergraduate degree. 

Speaker

Rob Jackson is the Technical Expert for Syngenta malting barley in UK and Ireland. Having been raised on an arable farm in Nottinghamshire he studied Agriculture at Reading University. To date he has spent over 20 years working in various roles in the agricultural seeds industry, including variety trialling and registration as the Technical Manager for The British Society of Plant Breeders. He joined Syngenta R&D 10 years ago working in cereal variety development before moving into his current commercial role last autumn.