Exploring the Development of a Context-Based Composite Environmental Sustainability Indicator for the Brewing Industry

This research explores environmental reporting in the brewing industry through collecting the indicators breweries are reporting on and determining the extent of science-based environmental targets in reports. A content analysis of brewery websites and public reports was conducted to collect the environmental indicators and targets of breweries. This information was used to inform the development of a brewery-specific environmental composite-indicator framework and to answer the following: Are the indicators breweries report enough to measure environmental sustainability in relation to global limits? The composite-indicator framework draws from the Planetary Boundaries (i.e., global limits) and subsequently developed Planetary Quotas as the basis for setting its indicator targets. It was found that some breweries are reporting on many industry-relevant areas of environmental importance and using science-based emissions targets. However, supply chain contributions (e.g., agriculture) are not fully considered when reporting, which leads to a lack of necessary information when calculating global environmental impacts.