Since day one, Fat Tire has blazed a trail on climate action.

When brewing the first batch, our founder rigged up a trash can and copper pipe to capture and reuse wasted heat to reduce energy. In the ‘90s, we pioneered wind power with our utility. In the 2000s, we installed onsite renewables, like solar and biogas capture. And that’s just the start.

Along the way, we’ve linked arms with others—funding climate-resilient barley research, sharing our climate playbook with the world free of charge, donating over $17 million to nonprofits working on the front lines of the climate movement and mobilizing a growing coalition of beer drinkers to get involved.

But there’s always more to do, and every day we look for new ways to chip our footprint closer to zero, while we continue to fight for necessary and sweeping systemic change.

As climate change disrupts the very ingredients our beer is made of—water and crops—we will continue working to protect the health of our planet and ensure that beer, not to mention staples like rice and coffee, remains affordable and plentiful for all.

America's First

Certified Carbon Neutral Beer

In 2020, Fat Tire became America’s first certified carbon neutral beer. Why? Climate change poses an urgent threat to our coworkers, our customers, and our communities – not to mention the beer we all love to drink - and we are using every tool at our disposal to protect the only planet with beer.

Certifying our beer as carbon neutral is one step of many that we take to reduce our impact, after setting science-based climate targets and investing in direct reductions in emissions from brewing and distributing Fat Tire. We utilize the leading international standard for carbon neutrality in our certification, ensuring we are accurately measuring our footprint and holding ourselves accountable to real, measurable emission reductions over time. Learn more here.

THE BEER DRINKER’S

Climate Declaration 

As beer drinkers of all backgrounds and ideologies, we don't see eye to eye on everything. But on this we agree: 

1. Beer is excellent.
2. Climate change disasters ruin beer ingredients, making beer taste bad and cost more. 

Thus, the future of our favorite beverage depends on protecting the only planet with beer.

As Americans, we've overcome huge hurdles throughout our history, and it's time we work together for the safety and wellbeing of our friends, our family, and our country.

So, we're asking for:

• Elected officials - get behind further climate action to win the new economy.
• Businesses - embrace growth and competitiveness through climate investments.
• Citizens everywhere - join us in taking responsibility to hold government and corporate leaders accountable for the world our kids will inherit.

For good beer. A better planet. And a stronger, more prosperous nation.

When certain gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrogen oxides are released into the atmosphere, they absorb heat radiation. In abnormal quantities, they act like glass in a greenhouse—allowing sunlight into the “greenhouse” but blocking Earth’s heat from escaping into space. Human activity is the primary source of these gases, in particular the burning of fossil fuels, resulting in everything from more intense wildfires and droughts, to melting glaciers and rising sea levels, to drastic shifts in growing seasons for vital plant species. These changes are already having big impacts on beer – filling rivers that brewers depend on with sediment from wildfires, degrading the quality and yield of barley fields, and upending supply chains & infrastructure our businesses rely upon.

We don’t want a future where beer is out of reach because of climate change, so we are working hard to protect the only planet with beer.

The production, distribution, and refrigeration of beer all contribute to this phenomenon and its mounting toll on our communities, our economy, and our planet. And since beer is part of the problem, you can bet we hold ourselves accountable to mitigate our impact with every tool at our disposal.

Despite constant work to reduce our emissions, every step in the process to bring you this beer requires energy: brewing it, packaging it, storing it, and transporting it. Some of that energy (from fossil fuel sources) still emits greenhouse gases, which cause climate change—and that shit is bad for everything. Even beer. As we continue to reduce the energy we use, find renewable sources, and push for nationwide leadership to implement more renewables, we also invest in projects that offset our remaining emissions. Beyond mitigating climate change, the projects we are supporting provide additional benefits such as education, jobs, and economic resilience – ensuring a better future for people and for beer.

Carbon offsets can vary greatly in their quality and true benefit to the planet, and New Belgium adheres to a high standard for all offset purchases. Offsets we purchase through organizations like Anew and Indigo Ag adhere to the following criteria:

(1) Create genuine, additional reductions in GHG emissions free of double-counting

(2) Ensure a high level of confidence in permanence and alignment with our value chain and communities

(3) Avoid and fully account for leakage and error

(4) Meet nationally recognized standards established by credible organizations and are stored & retired within their registries with publicly available documentation

(5) Verified by an independent, certified third party verifier

(6) Issued after the emission reduction has taken place

We are committed to climate action for the long haul, charting a thoughtful and deliberate path toward our climate goals. Purchasing carbon offsets to “make up” for our impact to the planet is neither a viable long-term plan, nor a mark of true climate leadership. That is why we are committed to reducing both our direct and indirect emissions, using science-based targets, in alignment toward a 1.5-degree Celsius warming limit, which include the following:

· At least a 55% direct reduction in brewery emissions by 2030

· At least a 30% direct reduction in supply chain emissions by 2030

· 100% renewable electricity by 2030

Commitments to these absolute carbon reduction targets are driving real results that will stabilize the planet, save lives, save jobs, and save beer. Carbon offsets are great ways to finance a transition to the low carbon economy, but we need to stop emissions before they start.

And while we have already made numerous investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, we are inherently reliant on a much larger infrastructure nationally that still has a long way to go.

Our carbon reduction plan includes the following strategies and investments to reduce our footprint directly over the next decade, and it’s all powered by a cross-departmental crack team of climate champs we call our Carbon Neutral Task Force.

Curious how you can get involved? From small efforts like riding your bike to work to larger efforts like giving your time to help protect public lands, we’ve outlined several ways people can lower their carbon footprint and contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle.