Yorkshire-based Cooper King Distillery has reached new sustainable heights by becoming the first distillery in England to produce carbon-negative gins as part of its ongoing commitment to fighting climate change.

The award-winning eco-distillery's Dry and Herb Gins are now classed as carbon-negative meaning that for every bottle of spirit created, Cooper King removes more carbon from the atmosphere than is emitted.

To achieve this status, the carbon footprint of the two gins was reduced as far as possible, before offsetting the remainder with verified carbon credits , to reach carbon-neutral. A further 1kg of CO₂e is then offset per bottle beyond neutral to reach carbon negative status .

In addition to carbon offsetting, each bottle of gin plants one square metre of native UK woodland in charitable partnership with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust – Cooper King's way of investing in the future and doubling down on its commitment to the planet.

The result of 12 months' data collection and analysis , Cooper King's carbon footprint assessment of its Dry and Herb Gins was extensive and included procurement of its ingredients & packaging, production and distribution.

Chris Jaume, Co-Founder, Cooper King Distillery said: “Producing flavour-driven, sustainable drinks has always been at the core of what we do, because we believe drinking good spirits needn't cost the Earth. After a year's worth of hard work, and despite a pandemic, we're delighted that we've been able to achieve carbon-negative status for our two core products.

“Reaching this milestone is a significant step in our plan to become a carbon-negative distillery. We value people, planet and prosperity, and through sharing our findings in our publicly available Carbon Report we hope to inspire others to make a positive difference.”

As part of Cooper King's commitment to long term sustainability, the team recently planted 30 juniper bushes on site. These could produce enough juniper for around 15,000 bottles of gin a year once mature, though it takes 8-10 years before the female plants will produce their first crop of berries ready for distillation.

The business has also signed the United Nations Climate Neutral Now Pledge and was the first distillery in Europe to join environmental initiative 1% for the Planet.

For sales enquiries, please contact sales@cooperkingdistillery.co.uk / 01347 808232.

-ENDS-

For further media information please contact Vicky or Agatha at Chapman Poole firstname@chapmanpoole.co.uk T: 0161 706 0130

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Founded in 2016 by Dr Abbie Neilson, a former scientist and Chris Jaume, a chartered architect, Cooper King Distillery is an independent, self-built, crowd-funded whisky and gin distillery near York, producing sustainable spirits distilled with craftsmanship, honesty and adventure.

History
Cooper King Distillery was inspired by Abbie and Chris' desire to leave the rat-race. They travelled across the globe and became fascinated by the eight operational whisky distilleries in Tasmania. With a mission to bring their discoveries back to England, the couple gave up their established careers and set up a sustainable gin and whisky distillery back home in Yorkshire.

Inspired by Chris's great-great-grandfather, Charles Cooper King, the name Cooper King has rich historical ties to England and Yorkshire. Born in 1843, Charles, who was Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Marine Artillery, traced the Cooper King family history back to 1030, where he identified the Pigot family of Yorkshire, whose shield can still be seen today carved into the stonework throughout Ripon Cathedral.

Sustainability
The Distillery is England's only self-built whisky and gin distillery, and one of only a handful in the country to run on 100% green energy. Producing the first gin in Europe with 1% for the Planet® accreditation, 1 square metre of English woodland is planted for every bottle of gin sold. To date, 11,000 square metres of native woodland have been planted with charity partner the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust.

Cooper King Distillery was the first in the country to offer a gin refill scheme. It also ships all orders in plastic-free packaging thanks to a clever origami-style recycled cardboard box developed with a local box-maker and saves 26 tonnes of fresh water a year due to the use of innovative vacuum gin stills.

Drinkaware is an independent UK-wide, alcohol education charity with the objective of positively changing public behaviour and the national drinking culture. It aims to reduce alcohol misuse and minimise harm by helping people make better choices about their drinking. It achieves this by providing impartial, evidence-based information, advice and practical resources; raising awareness of alcohol and its harms and by working collaboratively with partners (including the medical community, public health, third sector organisations, local authorities, police and the drinks industry).