ABSOLUT VODKA OFFSETS CARBON EMISSIONS TO MINIMIZE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

A history of prioritized and committed sustainability work, together with smart and innovative environmental solutions, has contributed to great reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from the production of Absolut Vodka. Absolut will now offset the remaining emissions by investing in climate projects.

Thanks to extensive recycling of heat, change to district heating and renewable electricity, Absolut has reduced the carbon emissions per liter produced vodka by 80 percent, during the last 10 years.

However, there are still some production-related emissions that are undergoing continuous efforts to be reduced. To take responsibility for these emissions, Absolut will invest in the Plan Vivo certified forest project “Scolel Té”, or “Growing Tree” in Chiapas, Mexico. The project supports and helps small scale farmers to cultivate their land on a long-term basis through planting trees in combination with crop. The outcome is that deforested areas become reforested as well as contributing to increased biodiversity and has many positive social additional values.

“Absolut Vodka is basically an agricultural product that is dependent on some 400 local farmers' ability to grow high-quality wheat. Therefore it seemed natural to choose Plan Vivo that focuses on the smallholder’s conditions. As part of our sustainability program, we are developing a way to strengthen the biodiversity in our wheat production together with our local farmers in Skåne. For this reason, it is especially gratifying that, through our carbon offsets, we can support the same issues in Mexico, which for us is an important market,” says Tina Robertsson, Quality and Environmental Manager at The Absolut Company.

One source is a key concept for Absolut Vodka which infers that every bottle of Absolut Vodka origins in Åhus. The water is pumped from our own aquifer, the winter wheat is harvested in the fields in south of Skåne, the iconic bottle is produced by the close-by Swedish glasswork in Limmared and every drop of Absolut Vodka is produced in Åhus, Skåne, Sweden.

“On each and every bottle we tell the story of how our vodka is made here in Åhus and our pursuit of perfection. The care that we put into making vodka of highest quality is something we also want to bring to our local community. Therefore, we work with continuous, phased improvements to minimize our environmental impact,” says Tina Robertsson.