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.

high quality, low impact

light-weighted packaging

Light-weighting beer bottles and fiber packaging to reduce carbon footprint, and fuel required for shipping.

carbon neutral certified
Powered by 60% Renewable Electricity

Solar Powered: 665 kilowatts of solar cover the roofs of our facilities

Biogas Powered: 764 kilowatts of biogas generation

58% of grid electricity from non-carbon sources

Solar Thermal Powered: The sun supplies hot water for our Asheville offices

Investing in Supply Chain Sustainability

From funding climate-friendly barley breeding, to supporting packaging and malt supplier carbon reductions, to championing container recycling legislation, lots of our work takes place behind the scenes in our supply chain.

$19 Million Donated

We’ve donated over $19 million for climate and related environmental grants.

Made in zero-waste facility

99.5% of all waste is diverted from the landfill.

Brewed by a certified b corporation
fat tire can
fat tire can
  • light-weighted packaging

    Light-weighting beer bottles and fiber packaging to reduce carbon footprint, and fuel required for shipping.

  • carbon neutral certified
  • Powered by 60% Renewable Electricity

    Solar Powered: 665 kilowatts of solar cover the roofs of our facilities

    Biogas Powered: 764 kilowatts of biogas generation

    58% of grid electricity from non-carbon sources

    Solar Thermal Powered: The sun supplies hot water for our Asheville offices

  • Investing in Supply Chain Sustainability

    From funding climate-friendly barley breeding, to supporting packaging and malt supplier carbon reductions, to championing container recycling legislation, lots of our work takes place behind the scenes in our supply chain.

  • $19 Million Donated

    We’ve donated over $19 million for climate and related environmental grants.

  • Made in zero-waste facility

    99.5% of all waste is diverted from the landfill.

  • Brewed by a certified b corporation
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.

Globey

help us protect the only planet with beer

Beer drinkers can be a powerful force—if we band together and take action. It's time to tell the world we support climate action because we want great-tasting, affordable beer—and a more equitable, prosperous economy for all. We need action now.

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.

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Carbon Neutral Toolkit

Making real progress to solve the climate crisis will require all breweries to take action. We've taken all the work we've done to mitigate our impact and pursue carbon neutrality, and released a detailed “how-to“ toolkit to help any brewery join the movement by measuring carbon emissions and taking steps to become carbon neutral. If you’re a beer drinker, encourage your (other) favorite breweries to take a look!

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.

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CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS COMMUNITIES

Climate change is a public health concern. As an example, increased air pollution causes and exacerbates asthma and cardiovascular disease, while higher temperatures put more people at risk of heat stroke and create conditions for insects carrying vector-borne diseases to thrive. These health issues often disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. Communities hit first and worst by climate change are known as frontline communities.

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Climate Change Impacts Our Economy

Increasing intensity of floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires not only endangers lives but also destroys property and infrastructure. In just three years’ time, climate change has cost North America $415 billion, and those numbers are expected to rise. Jobs of all varieties, from recreation, to farming, and manufacturing are threatened by these catastrophes and the ripple effects they create across businesses and industries.

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CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS OUTDOOR SPACES & THEIR INHABITANTS

Rising sea temperatures spell disaster for fish populations and coral reefs. Decreased snowpack minimizes our ski season and decreases flows in the rivers we paddle. Increased temperatures and wildfire threaten our forests, our waterways, and habitat for hunting and fishing.

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CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS FARMERS

Increasing intensity of floods, storms, droughts, and wildfires not only endangers lives but also destroys property and infrastructure. In just three years’ time, climate change has cost North America $415 billion, and those numbers are expected to rise. Jobs of all varieties, from recreation, to farming, and manufacturing are threatened by these catastrophes and the ripple effects they create across businesses and industries.

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

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Regenerative Agriculture

Implementing climate-friendly growing practices such as cover cropping, reduced tillage and crop rotation can reverse this reality and provide a new revenue stream for farmers while improving soil health and productivity. Fat Tire is part of a small network of brands that committed to purchasing verified registry-issued carbon credits under a new approved soil enrichment protocol. Our investment in these credits helps farmers transition to more climate-friendly growing practices, and supports rural economies while mitigating agricultural emissions from our supply chain.

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Refrigerant Recycling

In particular, the refrigerants required for storing the finished product – at the warehouse, the beer store, and in your home refrigerator – are typically made from HFC refrigerants, which are powerful greenhouse gases with global warming potential (GWP) much greater than carbon dioxide. Leading climate scientists have identified managing refrigerants as a top solution for fighting climate change, and our investment in a refrigerant recycling project helps recover, clean and reuse HFC refrigerants - displacing production of virgin refrigerants while we work behind the scenes to outlaw use of these refrigerants in the coming years.

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.

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ADDITIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY INSTALLATIONS AT OUR BREWERIES

We harness Earth’s power to help run our breweries – including biogas, geothermal, solar and solar thermal systems. In 2022, we added more solar to the mix with a new solar array on the roof of our Asheville brewery, and we’ve got more plans in sight.

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INCREASED INVESTMENTS IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The cheapest watt is the one you never purchase! Throughout our brewhouses, we capture heat and reuse it to offset some of our natural gas needs, and our Carbon Neutral Taskforce is also constantly looking for opportunities to reduce losses in our production processes.

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IMPROVING REFRIGERANT MANAGEMENT AND STRIVING TO CAPTURE OUR BIOGENIC CO2

Fugitive emissions from some of the industrial processes involved in making and storing beer are some of the sneakiest sources, and some of the most important to mitigate.

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PHILANTHROPIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO CLIMATE JUSTICE AND JUST TRANSITION INITIATIVES

The communities hit first and worst by the climate crisis are often those who are least responsible for it, and often disenfranchised from being able to do anything about it. Boosting up climate resilience efforts led within these frontline communities is a critical piece of the puzzle.

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INCREASING HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES IN OUR COMPANY FLEET

We also advocate for programs which help Fat Tire’s distributors transition their trucking fleets to low-carbon alternatives as well.

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GREEN SUPPLIER PROGRAM

Through our Sustainable Supplier Program, we actively support our packaging, barley and malt suppliers in their own carbon reduction achievements.

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SUPPORTING A MORE REGENERATIVE FUTURE FOR BARLEY

We continue to financially support barley breeding research programs developing climate-friendly and climate-resilient barley varieties, while investing in programs that incentivize low-carbon farming practices.

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SMART AND AGGRESSIVE CLIMATE AND ENERGY POLICIES

Our actions as individual businesses are important, but they are not enough. We need systems-level change including decisive action from all levels of government. We have diligently advocated for clean energy and climate policy for decades, and seen wild successes in the process, including successfully encouraging our hometown of Fort Collins to commit to 100% renewable electricity, and celebrating federal climate investments on the steps of the White House. We continue these efforts and work closely with key partners such as Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP), to ensure lawmakers know that American businesses need a healthy climate to continue thriving.

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.

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Vote

In your local, state, and federal elections, support candidates who are committed to climate action and equity. Sign up for election reminders here, so you never miss another race. And learn where your representatives stand on the climate with the League of Conservation Voters’ nonpartisan scorecard.

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Vote With Dollars

Buy less stuff. Buy used when you can. Buy responsibly sourced products and sustainably grown food. Look for products that are Certified Carbon Neutral by a high standard like SCS Global Services.

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Know Your Energy

Find out if your local electricity provider is committed to 100% renewable energy by 2030. If not, tell them it’s time to step it up. Do a home energy audit—many utility companies offer them for free or reduced cost. If you rent, ask your landlord. Switch out your light bulbs to efficient LEDs and turn down that thermostat or A/C.

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Travel Smart

When possible, replace driving with public transit, biking, or walking. Carpool and maintain your vehicle. If you’re in the market for a car, choose one that’s fuel-efficient or electric—federal tax credits can help with the cost.

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Protect Public Lands

If public lands are managed correctly, they can serve as vital carbon sinks for our atmosphere, not to mention other vital services like clean water. Support and follow the Outdoor Alliance or the Wilderness Society on social media to get clued into their work on the ground, and get your employer signed up as a member of the Conservation Alliance.

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Donate

If you have the means to donate your money or your time, you can make a big difference by supporting one of the nonprofits working tirelessly to accelerate action on climate, protect vital natural resources, and defend the frontline communities that will be most impacted by climate change. Here’s a few of our favorite groups: Environmental Voter Project, Coalfield Development, All We Can Save, and Grid Alternatives.