Episode 5: Lion's net-zero big pitcher - doing the right thing for the long term, with Justin Merrell

Driving Net Profit with Zero Emissions

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In this episode, we speak with Lion, one of Australia’s largest brewers to hear more about their climate change targets and their journey towards net-zero emissions. We talk about Lion’s carbon footprint in Australia and globally, including their scopes 1, 2 and 3 for their operations and supply chain emissions and what measures they take to reduce emissions.

We talk about external factors such as sector trends, science-based targets, reporting under the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, Sustainable Development Goals, and Lion's sustainability metrics for internal reporting. We dive deeper into the top climate risks, such as water security, which is important for Lion’s operations, and even more important upstream for crop growing. We talk about the need for regenerative agriculture and increasing soil carbon. The discussion then moves on to Lion’s carbon-neutral certifications to Climate Active as well as international organisational and product-focused offset programs.

Justin also talks about how Lion works with their suppliers to reduce carbon emissions and how partnerships will be the next steps in Lion’s sustainability journey.

About Lion
As one of Australia’s largest brewers, Lion employs more than 1,500 people. Lion produces iconic brands such as Tooheys and XXXX, James Squires Zero, Steinlager Zero, as well as craft beers such as Furphy and Little Creatures, cider, alcoholic seltzer, coffee and kombucha.

Lion’s environmental approach is governed by the simple mantra of ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. As a large manufacturer and purchaser of agricultural goods, Lion’s priorities are focused on reducing their water and energy usage and waste. Lion has made great progress in emissions reduction and in 2020, became the country’s first certified large-scale carbon neutral brewer. As part of Lion’s Energy Optimisation Program, they aim to brew all their beers using 100% renewable electricity by 2025. In New Zealand, Lion has achieved “carbonzero” certification with Toitu. And in the US, New Belgium has committed to eliminating carbon emissions by 2030.

About Justin Merrell
Justin is the Group Environment Director at Lion. He is responsible for setting Lion’s environment strategy that focuses on carbon, sustainable packaging, and water stewardship. Prior to Lion, Justin held various roles in Qantas, but joined Qantas in 2012 as Group Environment Manager just in time to catch Australia’s first biofuel flight. If you want to get in touch with Justin, you can connect with him on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-merrell-4a799334/
Meet the host
Barbara Albert is the Co-CEO of 100% Renewables. She is passionate about business and works to make organisations’ transition to net-zero emissions simpler and profitable. Barbara is the award-winning author of ‘Energy Unlimited – Four Steps to 100% Renewable Energy‘, one of the world’s most important books on renewable energy, as ranked by peers and experts in the industry.

About 100% Renewables:
In 2015, we developed one of the first organisational plans to achieve 100% renewable energy. Since then, we have helped over 100 organisations develop their net zero plan and have grown the business to a national team of net zero specialists. We are known for developing strategies that are pragmatic, based on sound business cases, and have organisational buy-in.
Driving Net Profit with Zero Emissions

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1. Episode 5: Lion's net-zero big pitcher - doing the right thing for the long term, with Justin Merrell (00:00:00)

2. About this episode (00:00:39)

3. Introducing Justin Merrell (00:01:54)

4. Lion’s carbon footprint (00:04:37)

5. Lion’s climate leadership and targets (00:06:02)

6. Lion’s strategic planning (00:11:43)

7. Physical climate risks most relevant to Lion (00:24:08)

8. Emissions reduction initiatives in Lion’s operations and supply chain (00:32:57)

9. Lion’s carbon neutrality (00:52:02)

10. Lion’s downstream impact (01:03:15)

11. How staff perceives the sustainability initiatives (01:07:09)

12. Next steps in Lion’s sustainability journey (01:10:13)

13. Take-away message (01:15:00)