IFF, a global company focused on innovating the food and beverage industry, has launched its Sustainability Brewing Calculator – an online tool designed to minimise water, energy, CO2 emissions, and land use through adjusting raw materials used.
Aimed at supporting sustainable decision-making for brewers, the Sustainability Brewing Calculator was designed with environmental and economic considerations in mind to present actionable data.
It uses Life Cycle Assessment methodology and available sustainability data to simulate adjustments in brewing recipes – providing outputs such as potential reductions in water and energy consumption and decreases in carbon emissions.
By adjusting a recipe to include a higher percentage of locally sourced raw materials, brewers can lower costs, support local agriculture and minimise overall environmental impacts.
This launch is part of IFF’s broader commitment to sustainability, which aims to address global challenges such as climate change and resource scarcity.
IFF sustainable solutions director, Todd Krieger, said that the company is dedicated to pioneering innovations that help its customers succeed in their markets responsibly.
“Our Sustainability Brewing Calculator is a testament to our ongoing commitment to providing solutions that support sustainability at every level of operation,” he said.
The Sustainability Brewing Calculator has a dashboard which quantifies sustainability benefits in real terms ─ per year or per unit of beer production. By representing water saving quantities as Olympic sized swimming pools, or CO2 emission savings as trees planted, it grants brewers a more concrete notion of their impact.
The tool is also able to generate a report based on the material inputs and required outcomes to suggest usage of IFF’s enzymatic ingredient solutions. These include viscosity-reducing Laminex, starch-converting Amylex and stabilisation ingredient Bclear.
IFF marketing category manager for Brewing and Distilling Enzymes, Karine Dedman, said that the brewing industry had long faced challenges in sustainability, particularly in energy and water use.
“Our new calculator empowers brewers with precise, easy-to-understand data on the benefits of sustainable raw materials. It clearly outlines potential savings of adjusting the raw materials mix."
The Sustainability Brewing Calculator has already helped several brewing professionals make sustainability changes, and is available online here for interested customers.
