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29th July 2021

Earth Overshoot Day is marked with a unique beer collaboration

  • Craft brewery Toast Ale has today launched a low-alcohol beer brewed with surplus bread and wonky raspberries to raise awareness about the food system’s impact on the climate.
  • Raspberry Sour is a collaboration with fellow B Corp Rubies in the Rubble as part of Toast’s Rise Up campaign in the lead up to COP2
  • The beer launches on Earth Overshoot Day, the date when humanity has used up nature’s resource budget for the entire year, and calls for action to #movethedate.

Craft brewery Toast Ale has released a new beer to mark Earth Overshoot Day 2021. The date, revised each year, is the point when humanity’s use of natural resources exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. This year it falls on 29th July, tied with 2019 as the joint earliest yet since it was first measured in the 1970s.

Toast has collaborated with food waste fighting Rubies in the Rubble to produce the beer. It’s a low-alcohol Raspberry Sour brewed with surplus fresh bread and wonky raspberries that would otherwise be wasted.

The beer is part of Toast’s Rise Up series that’s raising awareness about the impact of the food system on people and the planet in the lead up to the COP26 global climate talks. This collab focuses on our climate, and the opportunity to tackle the crisis by reducing food waste.

Food production is responsible for one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, the biggest contributor to climate change. Yet one-third of food is wasted.

If we halve food waste (in line with Sustainable Development Goal 12.3), we can #MoveTheDate of Earth Overshoot Day by 13 days. If we also choose plant based food and foods grown with agroecological and regenerative practices, we could further move Earth Overshoot Day by 19 days.

Beer lovers can do their bit by enjoying a pint of this new low-alcohol beer (0.5% vol.) with all profits going to Toast’s charity partner, Feedback. People can also write to their MPs (there’s an easy-to-use form at toastale.com/riseup) to ask for food to be put on the agenda at COP26.

Louisa Ziane, Toast’s co-founder & Chief Operating Officer, said “Changing the way we eat and how much food we waste are the biggest opportunities to respond to the climate crisis. Yet the way we produce and consume food isn’t even on the agenda at COP26.”

“Earth Overshoot Day is a reminder that the Earth can’t sustain current levels of resource consumption. With four months until the critical climate talks in Glasgow, world leaders still have time to take action. In the meantime we want to show that businesses can collaborate to do our bit … and have fun doing so.”

Jenny Costa, Founder & CEO of Rubies in the Rubble, adds “Why is our food system not a focal topic in our plans to combat global warming?”

“Goal 12 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Responsible consumption and production, sits at the heart of what this collaboration between Rubies in the Rubble and Toast Ale is about. We’re proud to feature as part of Toast’s Rise Up series, and urge governments and businesses to join together to make change.”

The beer is available at toastale.com from (from £2.75 per 440ml can) and at independent retailers. Cheers!

 

Notes for Editors

In the lead up to COP26,  Toast is releasing a series of limited edition beers with fellow B Corps Divine Chocolate, teapigs, Hobbs House Bakery, Oddbox, Flawsome! Drinks, Rebel Kitchen, Rubies in the Rubble and Cafedirect. Each beer will highlight an element of the ecological crisis, and change needed to the food system to meet the goals set in the Paris Agreement.

Toast is also supporting the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) Bill, which requires the UK to take responsibility for its fair share of greenhouse gas emissions, to actively restore biodiverse habitats, and to stop damaging our natural world through the production, transportation and disposal of the goods we consume. It’s designed specifically to reverse the climate and ecological breakdown we’re facing.

About Toast Ale (toastale.com | @toastale)

Toast brews planet-saving beer using surplus fresh bread to prevent food waste and reduce the demand for malted barle,. Toast open sources a recipe for home brewers and collaborates with breweries all over the world to scale its impact. All its profits go to charities fixing the food system.

Toast is a social enterprise, the first UK brewery to become a B Corp and winner of the 2021 Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development.

About Rubies in the Rubble (Rubiesintherubble.com | @rubiesintherubble)

Rubies in the Rubble makes award-winning condiments out of produce that would otherwise go to waste. Their mission is to provide an active solution to food waste but also raise awareness of the scale of food waste & its link to climate change. They are the first UK condiment brand to become a B Corp.


Press release from Toast Ale

Contact: Louisa Ziane at louisa@toastale.com