Bira 91 Targets To Be India’s First Net Zero Beer Company By 2025

Bira 91, India’s fastest-growing beer brand, on the occasion of Earth Day 2022, announced ‘Mission To Zero’, its ambition to become India’s first Net Zero beer company by 2025. More than seven pints of Bira 91 are enjoyed every second and as the company scales up, Bira 91 aims to brew not only the most flavorful beers on the planet, but also the greenest beers for the planet. The company is doubling down on its sustainability efforts with initiatives that will help create real, measurable impact. By 2025, every Bira 91 brewery will have zero carbon emissions.

Commenting on Mission to Zero, Ankur Jain, Founder and CEO, Bira 91, said, “Today’s consumers do not only want to drink flavorful beers, but also want to make better choices for the community and the planet. We know that we make the most flavorful beers in the world, and now we want to make the greenest beers for the planet too. We are investing in our manufacturing and supply chain to ensure that our breweries reach zero carbon emissions by 2025 – 5 years ahead of other global beers makers. We believe that carbon emissions are the greatest challenge being faced by this generation and our hopeful that our Mission To Zero will spark a revolution- one in which every beer made in the country is Carbon neutral.”

Here’s a video that details out Bira 91’s ‘Mission To Zero’

Last year, Kirin Holdings invested in B9 beverages for a minority stake. Subsequently both the companies partnered to form B9 - Kirin Centre for Sustainable Growth, focused on environment sustainability and other business synergies. As a result, the centre kicked off its Net Zero project last year to create an aggressive roadmap to become carbon neutral by 2025, nearly 5 years ahead of other global beer makers.

Sharing his perspective, Hiromasa Honda, Managing Director, Kirin Holdings Singapore, said, “A key pillar of Kirin’s philosophy is ‘Creating Shared Value’ (CSV). As part of this focus, the Kirin group strives to create social and economic value together with all of its stakeholders and work to grow sustainably with society. Kirin has identified the environment as one of its four key CSV issues. We are glad to share our expertise and support Bira 91’s commitment to become carbon neutral so early in its lifecycle. Team Kirin shares Bira 91’s ambition towards being India’s first Net Zero beer company and will continuously engage in various initiatives that can help them reach this goal.”

As a part of its to-do list for the planet, Bira 91 has laid out four key areas to accomplish Mission To Zero:

1.      Shift to 100% Clean Energy

a.      The company is now Zero Coal across all breweries

b.      minimize buying electricity made by burning coal or natural gas

c.      generate 10 MW of electricity from solar panels by 2025

d.      install off-grid wind turbines to light-up all our administrative facilities and streets

2.      Consume 60% Less Energy

a.      invest in equipment to ensure that all the surplus heat is recovered and converted into reusable energy 

b.      improve every small step of making beer - from mill to mash, boil to ferment, filter to pack, Bira 91 will make it smarter, faster and better

c.      deploy today’s advances in brewing, packaging, automation, AI and advanced robotics, Bira 91 will remove waste, improve efficiencies, and reduce energy consumption

3.      Use 50% Less Water

Recycle, Reduce and Reuse, Bira 91 will cut its water usage by half:

a.      Treat & convert 100% of waste-water into clean water which is then used for refrigeration, watering trees and generating steam

b.      Reduce evaporation during brewing and make processes such as cleaning of glass bottles smarter

c.      Build closed-loop processes so that no water is lost after using it for the first-time and can be reused multiple times

4.      Send Zero Waste to Landfill

a.      The company uses 100% of the spent grain for animal feed and some of it is also used to make cups for offices & events

b.      Currently, 95% of the packaging material that is used to make Bira 91 beers is recyclable. By 2024, 99% will be fully recyclable

c.      Bira 91 is cutting the scrap and is committing to send zero waste to landfills across all its breweries by 2025. Anything that CAN be recycled, WILL be – broken glass, damaged cartons, wasted cans, or any other waste generated in the beer-making process.

In the world of Bira 91 where beers are the most flavorful and the greenest, ZERO > 91 .