We’re thrilled to have been awarded our Green South Downs Sustainability Certification – we have obtained a Silver Award!

In October 2022 South Downs National Park launched a business pilot to test out their brand new Green South Downs Sustainability Certification Scheme, and we were so happy to be involved.  

Working in Partnership with Green Tourism they wanted to offer a new certification scheme to help businesses working in the visitor economy, food and drink or land-based sectors on their sustainability journey and get recognition for the work they are doing. 

This scheme helps businesses by creating a bespoke action plan around three goals; people, place and planet. Businesses involved have been able to showcase what they are already doing in these areas and look for additional ways to reduce their impact on the environment and find efficiencies in the resources they use.

Nineteen businesses in the National Park joined the pilot (including lovely old us) and have worked hard to achieve their award over the last few months. They achieved 4 Gold, 9 Silver (our award) and 6 Bronze.

Lesley, co-owner of the brewery said, “The team are chuffed to bits to have been included in the Green South Downs pilot scheme and to have achieved an independently verified Silver Green Tourism award. We have always taken environmental considerations seriously and the audit process has helped us to focus on our green credentials. The audit, although hard work, was worth every effort. It helped us highlight and promote existing sustainability initiatives, whilst enabling us to focus and tackle areas needing improvement. We look forward to continuing our environmental journey with Green South Downs.”

As part of the certification, we looked at:

  • Reducing energy use
  • Saving water
  • Efficient & eco-friendly waste disposal
  • Ethical buying
  • Staying local and seasonal
  • Minimising food miles
  • Promoting biodiversity
  • Adopting a smart, sustainable outlook from top to bottom

Bex, our retail buisness manager adds, “We evaulated every detail of the business, explaining what we do, why we do it and how we do it… and provided supporting evidence. By taking a deep-dive through the process we were able to discover changes that could be made. It also helped us to consolidate some postive eco-friendly aspects that have been in place for a long time, such as encouraging our customers to reuse real ale containers and reusing delivery packaging. I’m so pleased we are accurately representing the business and continuing to make positive changes.”

Lesley concludes, “This is just the beginning for us here at the brewery… our next step is to capture, recycle and repurpose our CO2… watch this space!”

We’ll be proudly displaying our Award in the Brewery at Taproom very soon. Discover how to enjoy our Taproom as a destination experience: Walk, Cycle, Stay.

The full scheme launches in May 2023, and is open to all businesses in and around the South Downs National Park who have joined ‘Our South Downs’.
Discover more here: Our South Downs.

Green South Downs Sustainability Certification