Samlesbury brewery has the capacity to brew 295 million pints per year, making beers including Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona.  

Luiz Brandao, head of procurement and sustainability at Budweiser Brewing Group, said: “Sustainability is core to our business as we work towards net zero ambitions. Innovative solutions like hydrogen have huge potential for reducing our carbon footprint in the UK and moving us towards our ambitious sustainability goals.”

The brewery is moving to become greener with the launch of its Samlesbury Net Zero Project with Protium. This project will see the state-of-the-art electrolytic green hydrogen production facility built next to the brewery to meet its thermal demand, heating, electricity and transport needs through green hydrogen energy.

As well as reducing the brewery’s carbon emissions, it will lead to cleaner air and reduced vehicle noise with heavy goods vehicles also being powered by hydrogen, and will save up to an estimated 11,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually from the brewery’s operations. 

This project is a step forward in decarbonising the UK’s food and drink industry and will help AB InBev, owner of Budweiser Brewing Group, meet its global sustainability goals, which include 100% of its electricity coming from renewable sources and achieve net zero across its value chain by 2040.

Under the plans, Protium would fund, build, and operate the site for the brewery and is targeting the end of 2025 for it to be operational. A planning application for the project will be submitted in the coming spring following consultation with neighbours, the community, and other local stakeholders.