Bira 91, a craft beer company supported by Sequoia Capital India, Sofina of Belgium, and Kirin Holding of Japan, announced that their brewery located in Mysuru has achieved the distinction of being India’s first net zero brewery.
Ankur Jain, the Founder and CEO of Bira 91, stated that the achievement of net zero status at the Mysuru brewery is a significant step in accelerating Bira 91’s “mission to zero” plan of becoming India’s first net-zero beer company by 2025.
According to Jain, the carbon neutrality achieved at the Mysuru brewery has resulted in substantial cost savings in manufacturing efficiency, with energy expenses dropping by 40-50%.
“When the Kirin investment happened, we formed the B9 Kirin centre for sustainable growth; we formed a working group called project net zero and spent a year to study what could be possible,” he said.
Over the last five months, B9 Beverages, the parent company of Bira 91, has raised $70 million in funding from a round led by Japanese beer giant Kirin Holdings, and an additional $10 million from MUFG Bank. Bira 91 also acquired The Beer Cafe, an alcobev retail chain, in 2022 to bolster its presence in pubs and taprooms, and establish a direct-to-consumer platform.
Hiromasa Honda, the Managing Director of Kirin Holdings Singapore, commented that the achievement of carbon neutrality at the Mysuru brewery, combined with the surging demand for Bira 91, demonstrates that “economic growth and social responsibility can work in harmony.”
Bira 91 has identified four key areas for its “mission to zero” objective, which includes transitioning to clean energy, decreasing energy consumption and water usage, and eliminating all waste that would otherwise go to landfills from all of its breweries by 2025.
