Suntory Global Spirits has scrapped its £60m ($80.8m) green hydrogen project at the group’s Auchentoshan Distillery in Scotland.
The spirits major said it had been unable to secure support from the UK government’s Hydrogen Allocation Round 2 (HAR2) decarbonisation fund.
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In 2024, Suntory, in partnership with Japanese conglomerate Marubeni, applied for government funding to support its HyClyde project.
A hydrogen plant was intended to be set up at the Auchentoshan Distillery, where Suntory makes single malt Scotch whiskies.
Suntory’s plans to develop the hydrogen plant followed its successful direct-fired distillation trial using 100% hydrogen at the Yamazaki Distillery in Japan.
The trial was part of the WhiskHy project, funded by the UK government’s Green Distilleries Competition, which explores the feasibility of green hydrogen-based decarbonisation technology.
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By GlobalDataSuntory said it “remains firmly committed” to its sustainability “ambitions”, which the Jim Beam maker pulls together under its Proof Positive programme.
The company’s targets include to have net zero carbon emissions “throughout its value chain by 2040”.
Suntory, which owns the Japanese whisky brand Hibiki, aims to cut greenhouse-gas emissions at its sites by half by 2030, based on a 2019 baseline.
Additionally, the company is targeting a 30% reduction in emissions throughout its value chain by 2030.
