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Drinks giants receive funding to cut carbon

Heineken, Britvic and AB Inbev are among a number of major UK manufacturers to receive government funding to improve their energy efficiency and cut carbon emissions.

The government has awarded 26 businesses in total a share of £24.3m from the industrial energy transformation fund (IETF), which supports businesses using high amounts of energy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels by investing in innovative low-carbon technologies.

Heineken will receive £3.7m to upgrade its Manchester brewery, including installing technology to recover waste heat from the refrigeration systems used to cool the beer.

Britvic Soft Drinks will use £4.4m to implement new technologies, including a heat recovery system and low temperature hot water network, at its site in east London, where it produces drinks such as Tango and Robinsons.

Budweiser brewer AB Inbev has been awarded over £60,000 to carry out a study on using a heat pump to reduce carbon emissions from its brewery.

Cereal manufacturers Kellogg’s and Pioneer Foods Limited will also benefit from funding as will Tate and Lyle Sugars, which is in line to receive over £70,000 to explore how to reduce natural gas use at its Thames Refinery.

The IETF is overseen by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and is part of the government’s plan to help future-proof carbon intensive industries and grow the green economy.

“This investment and IETF funding will enable us to act faster, and with the commitment and passion of our colleagues and partners, will help us raise the bar at our Manchester brewery to brew our beers in a more sustainable way,” said Matt Callan, senior director supply chain at Heineken UK. “The project will make a significant contribution on our journey to carbon neutrality and provide us with the learnings to reapply across our other sites as we continue our journey to brew a better world.”