Deschutes Brewery pledges to reduce greenhouse gas

At the brewery, a plan is being mapped out, said Erin Rankin, Deschutes Brewery communications manager.

“We are currently working on setting up our measurement systems so that we can accurately measure the greenhouse gas emissions and start logging our progress,” Rankin said in an email. “The majority of our efforts to reduce greenhouse gases will begin next year when we get these systems in place.”

Energy costs are among the top costs incurred by breweries, said Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association, a Colorado-based craft brewing association.

Greenhouse gas emissions are usually related to the generation of raw materials used to make beer, Watson said.

“There’s a small amount of carbon dioxide generated by the fermentation, but it’s very small in comparison,” he said.

This is the second initiative the brewery has joined. The first was the Better Plants Program pledged in 2018, according to the federal agency. That program works with manufacturers and wastewater treatment agencies to reduce energy use by 25% over a 10-year period by removing the barriers to efficiency. Every business in the program has a different path to reducing emissions, the spokeswoman said.

In 2021, the energy department stated that the 250 manufacturers in the program saved $9.3 billion in energy costs.

“Deschutes is proud to partner with the Department of Energy through the Better Climate Challenge to directly address climate change with responsible and sustainable business processes that reduce our carbon footprint,” said Peter Skrbek, Deschutes Brewery CEO, in an statement.

The Brewers Association ranked Deschutes No. 10 among top producing breweries. The overall craft beer retail market was estimated to be a $22.2 billion industry in 2020, a 22% decline over the previous year.

Central Oregon breweries have always made steps to protect the environment. For years, brewers have given their spent grain used to make beer to cattle farms to fatten cows. Some also give away their beer wastewater to ranches for fertilizer rather than inundating city sewer systems. And others with brewpubs compost table scraps, called post-consumer waste.