Scottish brewing giant BrewDog has said it is to plant one million trees at a site it has purchased near Loch Lomond as it moves to help tackle climate change.

The Ellon-based brewer said the BrewDog Forest and its £30m investment plan will qualify it for the title of “world’s first carbon negative international beer business”.

It said the move is founded in its belief that “carbon neutral is no longer enough” and that businesses should be having a positive impact on the planet.

BrewDog now plans a climate action program with green investments across its business.

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As part of these efforts it has also purchased 2,050 acres just north of Loch Lomond, to create the BrewDog Forest, and plans to plant one million trees "over the next few years".                                                       

David Robertson, Director, Scottish Woodlands: “Woodland creation of this scale is at the forefront of the fight to sequester atmospheric carbon in the UK and the BrewDog Forest will be one of the largest native woodlands created in the UK for many years.”

BrewDog will create 1,400 of broadleaf native woodlands, and 650 acres of peatland restoration in accordance with the Woodland Carbon code the Peatland code. As well as sequesting carbon woodland creation also promotes bio-diversity, natural flood attenuation and drives rural economic development. Work is expected to start on the BrewDog Forest in early 2021.

The brewer also plans to create a sustainable campsite on the land, that will host sustainability retreats and workshops for the general public, in addition to inviting its 130,000 Equity Punks investors to help with tree planting.

James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog said: “Our Carbon. Our Problem. So, we are going to fix it ourselves.                                                    

“Huge change is needed right now, and we want to be a catalyst for that change in our industry and beyond. We fully acknowledge that we are a long way from perfect. However, we are determined to rapidly and fundamentally change everything as we work hard to ensure we have a positive impact on the planet.”

BrewDog has been working closely with scientific advisor Professor Mike Berners-Lee and his team at Small World Consulting, who said: “After decades of inaction we have a full-on climate crisis on our hands. The scale and speed of the change we now need is enormous, and cuts right across politics, business and every corner of society.

"The good news is that if we are smart about our transition, we can make our lives better at the same time as making them more sustainable.”

James Watt, BrewDog co-founder, said: “The scientific consensus is clear: we are sleepwalking off the edge of a cliff. Unless the world confronts the urgent carbon problem, science tells us that the results will be catastrophic.”

Tesco has said it is creating 16,000 new permanent jobs to help it react to "exceptional growth" in its online business.

Supermarket chains have seen demand for online deliveries soar in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, with Tesco more than doubling its delivery customers since the start of March.

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It said the recruitment drive will include 10,000 roles for pickers, who select items for customer orders, and 3,000 delivery drivers.

The retailer will also hire staff for a variety of other roles across its stores and distribution centres in the coming weeks and months.

These 16,000 jobs are in addition to around 4,000 permanent jobs which have already been created since the start of the pandemic, Tesco said.

Nevertheless, it said it expects the majority of these roles to be filled by staff who have joined the company on a temporary basis in recent months.

Around 47,000 temporary staff joined Tesco at its peak during the pandemic, although it is understood that most of these roles have since ended.

Tesco said roles will first be offered to temporary staff still with the business, with remaining vacancies then recruited externally.

Jason Tarry, chief executive officer of Tesco UK and ROI, said: "Since the start of the pandemic, our colleagues have helped us to more than double our online capacity, safely serving nearly 1.5 million customers every week and prioritising vulnerable customers to ensure they get the food they need.

"These new roles will help us continue to meet online demand for the long term, and will create permanent employment opportunities for 16,000 people across the UK."

VisitScotland has announced details of a £6 million fund to help the events sector recover from the Covid-19 pandemic while restrictions on the sector are still in place.

The Events Industry Support Fund will comprise of a one-off grant of £10,000 to support businesses in the events industry, particularly those in the supply chain, that are facing hardship and will be awarded as applications are received.

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The fund is being delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government by VisitScotland and its EventScotland team, with development input from the newly formed Event Industry Advisory Group (EIAG).

The funding was announced as part of a £10 million package of support on 26 July by Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Cultur,e to help the events industry, parts of which are not yet able to reopen, and those which can are operating with limited numbers and other changes in light of the pandemic.

This will help to ensure that these businesses are able to support the delivery of events in Scotland when we recover from the coronavirus pandemic.   

This fund will support businesses which have not received Scottish Government sponsored Covid-related funding from other schemes and which meet the eligibility criteria. This includes suppliers working to organise, stage and deliver in Scotland, business and MICE events (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions) and/ or cultural and sporting events and festivals which are open to the public.  

Applications for the fund will open from noon on 31 August 2020 until noon on 14 September 2020.

Ms Hyslop said: “We know the events sector has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and whilst we have set out indicative dates for a staged return of the industry, difficulties will continue for a long time to come.  

“This funding is the result of close collaboration with the sector to work out exactly what challenges they face and tailor our support to help them as best we can. Scotland has a track record of successfully planning and delivering events at international, national and local level and we will continue to work with the sector as we emerge from lockdown to ensure we remain the perfect stage.” 

Paul Bush, VisitScotland’s director of events said: “The events industry has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic as one of the first industries to stop and it will be one of the last to restart. There is a desperate need for support and this £6 million Scottish Government fund will help a number of businesses in the short term until we can start to run events again.  

“This fund is designed to give a much needed cashflow support to those companies who have faced real hardship during lockdown. It is on a first come, first served approach, with only the first 600 applications being awarded funding, so I would urge those in the events supply chain to get their applications in as soon as possible.” 

This fund is open to the self-employed - through limited company or as a sole trader- partnerships and incorporated businesses who can demonstrate that supply to, organisation of and/or delivery of or to events in Scotland represents their primary source of income and that they earned a minimum of £10,000 from the supply to events in Scotland in 2019/20.

Applicants must have a place of business in Scotland and be supplying to events physically taking place here with only one application per business being permitted. 

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