Beam Suntory has teamed up with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to restore peatland in Scotland, thus promoting carbon capture and protecting biodiversity.
The spirits maker will contribute more than £400,000 to regenerate approximately 160 hectares of peatland at the Airds Moss reserve in East Ayrshire, which is owned by RSPB Scotland.
This marks the start of the second phase of the Peatland Water Sanctuary (PWS) initiative, a $4m conservation project to restore 1,300 hectares of peatlands by 2030, enough to produce the same amount of peat that Beam Suntory uses every year in making its Scotch whiskies on an ongoing basis.
Beyond this, there is a longer-term aim to restore sufficient peatlands by 2040 to equate to twice the volume of peat that Beam Suntory uses.
The restoration builds on the success of the first stage of the PWS initiative, which began with work to restore and conserve peatland near the Ardmore distillery in November 2021. Since then, approximately 13 hectares of peatland have been successfully restored. An expansion of the Ardmore PWS project is currently being planned.
Beam Suntory is also keen to improve education and awareness about the importance of peat and biodiversity and recently ran a peatland restoration training event at its Laphroaig Distillery on Islay. The company plans to replicate the event at further sites across Scotland.
