Molson Coors invests £10m in Tadcaster brewery

Molson Coors is investing £10 million in its Tadcaster brewery in an effort to increase production and efficiency while reducing emissions.

The Tadcaster Tower Brewery, which produces beer brands including Carling, Coors, Madri Excepcional and Worthington’s and currently employs more than 100 staff, will see “significant” infrastructure upgrades over the next two years in a bid to increase the brewery’s capacity and make it more energy-efficient.

The investment follows the Tower Brewery’s near completion of its new carbon dioxide recovery facility, which will be operational in early 2024.

Stephen Moore, director of the Molson Coors brewery in Tadcaster said: “Carbon dioxide is released during the beer fermentation process, but instead of entering the atmosphere, we will soon be able to recover and transfer carbon dioxide within the brewery before it’s purified and compressed into a liquid for storage. From there, it will be turned back into gas to be used in the packaging process, where it will be injected into the fermented product, giving our beer its signature fizz. This will make us more self-sufficient and play an important part in reducing our emissions.”

Moore added: “This is a landmark moment in our history, and as we prepare to ramp up production in the months and years ahead, it means we can keep making the nation’s favourite beer brands while reducing our impact on the environment.”

Kier Mather, MP for Selby and Ainsty, who recently visited the brewery, added: “Molson Coors is setting a fantastic example in Tadcaster, showing a real willingness to invest for the benefit of its colleagues, the local community and the environment. The new carbon dioxide recovery facility is hugely impressive, and its impact will be even more so. It’s a source of pride that such iconic brands are made right here on our doorstep, using the very latest technology as together we all work towards a net zero future.”

Back In 2021, Molson Coors became the first major UK brewer to switch to 100% renewable electricity. This means that all the electricity used to produce the more than one billion pints that Molson Coors makes each year in the UK comes from 22 wind turbines at the Tween Bridge wind farm in South Yorkshire, less than 40 miles from the Tadcaster Brewery.

Molson Coors’ global sustainability commitments include reducing carbon emissions across its direct operations by 50% by 2025. Having hit this target four years ahead of schedule, the UK business is aiming to accelerate its pathway to net zero and reach net zero scope 1 and 2 emissions across all UK sites by 2035.