Sun 23rd Aug 2020 - BrewDog buys 2,050 acres of Highlands land to create forest as part of carbon negative plans BrewDog buys 2,050 acres of Highlands land to create forest as part of carbon negative plans: Scottish brewer and retailer BrewDog is to plant one million trees by 2022 to create its own forest as part of a carbon negative approach to business. The company stated: “We have purchased 2,050 acres of land in the Scottish Highlands just north of Loch Lomond, which is currently used as grazing land. All of the carbon removal work at the BrewDog forest will be third-party verified with regular share updates and reports on our progress. We are going to create 1,500 acres of broadleaf native woodlands and an ecosystem with the Woodland Carbon Code accreditation programme. As well as sequestering carbon, woodland creation also promotes biodiversity, natural flood attenuation and drives rural economic development. In addition to woodland creation and peatland restoration, we are also going to create a sustainable BrewDog campsite at the location and run sustainability retreats and workshops at the BrewDog Forest. Over the next few years we will plant more than one million trees.” As part of the company's carbon negative approach it is now telling customers: “By drinking BrewDog beer you're genuinely having a positive impact on our plant.” The company's been working with professor Mike Berners-Lee on mapping out its carbon negative strategy. He said: “(BrewDog) is raising the bar for the business world, both in its strong carbon-cutting action and straight-talking. Going forwards it won't be perfect . It'll make mistakes and it'll need to be honest about them. It has been a joy to work with BrewDog on these first big steps of its transition. We have learned it is no good waiting for our politicians to lead the way. And so far, almost the entire business world has dragged its feet with a mixture of denial, greenwash, apathy and fear.” BrewDog has published its first sustainability report. It said: “We now remove twice as much carbon from our atmosphere than we emit each year while simultaneously doing all we can to drive our emissions to zero.” BrewDog co-founder James Watt said: “At BrewDog we thought we were doing our bit for the planet. But, after meeting David Attenborough and hearing him deliver at talk on climate change we started doing much more research into the matter. And then it hit us, the blindingly stark realisation we were not doing anything like enough. And in fact we were massively contributing to the current existential problem out planet and our species are facing. The scientific consensus is clear – we are sleepwalking off the edge of a cliff. And we want to make BrewDog a catalyst for change in our industry and beyond. We fully acknowledge we are long way from perfect. We are learning as we go – we have made mistakes – and we will continue to make mistakes. However, we are determined to rapidly and fundamentally change everything as we aspire to set a new global standard for sustainability.”