Just over 10 years ago, craft brewery Young Henrys (YH) was founded by two friends wanting to shake up the Australian beer scene. The team’s efforts of operating ethically and balancing profit and purpose have culminated in it achieving B Corp Certification.
B Corp certification, run by B Lab, is only achieved if a company can prove it has verifiable positive impacts across five areas – governance, workers, communities, customers, and the environment.
Young Henrys has joined a growing list of businesses and institutions around the world that share a similar philosophy and align with the core values of B Corp; banding together to change the rules of the game so that all businesses balance profit and purpose.
There are 413 B Corps headquartered in Australia, and YH joins 23 local beverage companies including Heaps Normal, Brick Lane Brewing, Capital Brewing Co., Cape Byron Distillery, Minimum Wines, and 23 Degrees Coffee Roasters.
When Oscar McMahon and Richard Adamson launched YH, the pair adopted a “support the community that supports you” mindset, which resulted in several initiatives that have culminated in its certification.
A carbon emission reduction project with the University of Technology Sydney Climate Change Cluster (C3) is seeking to “save the planet one beer at a time”. Using an algae bioreactor, CO2 – a by-product of brewing – is captured and fed to the algae in the reactor, which then releases oxygen, making the brewing process more carbon neutral.
For context, CO2 from the fermentation of just one six pack of beer takes a tree two full days to absorb; the 400-litre bioreactor installed in Young Henrys Newtown brewery produces as much oxygen as one hectare of Australian forest.
McMahon said, “We began working with the UTS Climate Change Cluster on this project as they were developing numerous real world uses for algae, which can help combat climate change. Together we’ve developed this method, in turn reducing our emissions as a business.”
The brewery also established a Brewing Scholarship, providing mentorship and encouragement for female-identifying/non-binary individuals to enter the brewing industry.
“Serve the people” is another ethos ingrained in the company since it began. McMahon said that B Corp is a significant milestone for the business and while it is new, the path to has not been.
Along with its algae project and scholarship program, YH offers its team an employee share program and is an active financial contributor to its local community through Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, Groundswell and The Dylan Alcott Foundation.
“All of us at YH are as humbled as we are thrilled to have been certified as a B Corp. As much as it reflects well on the Young Henrys business to this date, the B Corp mindset and framework more so sets the tone of what we want the business to look like, act like and feel like into the future.
“We urge other owners or people of influence in the private sector to look into the B Corp movement and set off down this path as well,” McMahon said.
For YH, B Corp certification marks the beginning of a longer and larger journey.
McMahon said that alongside other B Corps around the world, Young Henrys will continue the fight for change, helping lead the way for a more inclusive, equitable and regenerative economy.
