Case Study: The world's first carbon-negative beer.

The case is Gipsy Hill Brewery and its two first carbon-negative beers.
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Gipsy Hill Brewery

It's an independent micro-brewery based in London. Only selling in London.
Founded in 2014. Employed 34 people in 2022 (latest numbers available).

Disclaimer: This case study includes more questions than answers.
All are related to the intersection between sustainability and business.

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​The two carbon-negative beers

Gipsy Hill Brewery sells two carbon-negative brews fully tracked through their life cycle, all done without offsets.
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They are called "Trail" with -40 g CO2e per pint and "Swell" with -30 g CO2e per pint.

Compared to standard pints, which are usually more than 350g per pint.
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And we want to underline that it is important, and also what can be said to be impressive, that it is done without offsetting. 

How to make a carbon-negative beer

Regenerative agriculture (the most significant difference)

Gipsy Hill Brewery uses a supplier, Wildfarmed, which applies several practices to rebuild soil health, such as intercropping, cover cropping, and reduced tillage. These practices create a carbon drawdown – sequestering CO2e at greater depths through photosynthesis.

Wildfarmed sequesters more CO2 than it produces. It works 50+ farmers across the country from Northumberland to Cornwall.

This is an insetting strategy (to have suppliers within your value chain draw down carbon).
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In-house reuse of hops

Hops are used for two things: Bittering and aroma.

Most of the time, once the hops have been used, they get thrown away – and according to Gipsy Hill Brewery, it's like juicing an orange and tossing it away with half the juice left.

They built in-house processes to recapture the waste hops, get that last little bit of juice out of

them, and reduce the footprint of waste materials in the brewhouse.

Gipsy Hill Brewing is reusing spent hops within the Trail and Swell beers.

Due to the ingredients being a waste product, the associated GHG emissions from the use of the spent hops are zero in the life cycle assessment.

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Keep it local (it seems small, but it is essential)

Before COVID, they exported beers to 25 countries and distributed them nationally through

wholesales. Now, they sell beer in London's pubs and bars.

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​Bonus info: Shared ownership

All employees own a share of Gipsy Hill Brewery.
Its shared ownership works like this:

• Every year, Gipsy Hill gifts all employees options in the company, pro-rated for how much of the previous calendar year they worked (they say they will be looking to disburse roughly 2% of the company each year).
• Eventually, Gipsy Hill will be listed on the stock market. When it does, everyone's options will immediately turn into fair-value shares that they can hold or trade.
• They're launching an Employee Council.
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Questions

We have published this V1 case in parallel and reached out to Gipsy Hill Brewery. We wanted to get the conversation going and take you through our analysis process. We will update it and make a V2 when they get back.

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Here are our questions for Gipsy Hill:

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​01 What does the plan look like for the rest of the company?

• Do you have a timeline for being a carbon-negative company?
• What are the most significant barriers to becoming carbon-negative?
• How large a share do the new carbon-negative pints account for now? (in other words, does it sell?)

02 What about the other ecological pressures/planetary boundaries?

• For example, water consumption and wastewater management seems to be considerable problems in the brewery industry. What’s your take on this? (the other planetary boundaries, not necessarily water)

03 What is the regeneration limit, or in other words, Gipsy Hill Brewery's "appropriate scale" if it ought to be carbon negative?

• Is there a point at which you cannot find suppliers for additional regenerative ingredients? (We know this is probably highly theoretical for you since the potential for regenerative barley must be huge.)
• Can Gipsy Hill survive and thrive at that "appropriate scale" in the current economy?
• If not, what policies must be in place for it to work?

04 What strategies for scaling your impact have you considered? (other than growing Gipsy Hill)

• Have you considered scaling your impact by helping others do the same in the UK or other countries?
• If yes, how? By using open-sourcing methodology, networks, advocating for policy changes, educating citizens, or something else?

05 Why be listed on the stock market?

• You are legally bound to grow on a stock market, even if it means compromising quality and sustainability. You lose control. So, if you do this, how do you ensure you don't end up in a situation where you must compromise on the vision: a carbon-negative brewery?
• Have you considered becoming steward-owned (a not-for-profit business), and if yes, why do you not like that option?

06 How does Gipsy Hill compare to the big players?

• We are starting to research this, but it's super complex. In the source list, we have added links to further reading about Carlsberg. We would love to hear what you see from within the industry.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. 

Best
Marcus and Oscar