Beer Environmental Policy Question 1

From RankaBrand

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Contents 1 Question 2 Reference 3 Ranking guidelines 4 Answering guidelines

Question

Does the brand use organic or otherwise environmentally certified raw materials for its products?

• Dutch version: Maakt het merk (bedrijf) gebruik van biologische of anderszins milieu-gecertificeerde grondstoffen?

• German version: Macht die Marke/das Unternehmen Gerbauch von biologischen oder anderweitig umweltzertifizierten Grundstoffen?

Reference

This question asks for environmentally certified raw materials, here meaning the non-water ingredients of beer. This question encourages brands to prove that they make use of ingredients produced in an environmentally friendly way. Note that for this question we don't require a mimimum percentage of certified materials (yet).

The certifications that we have found in the Dutch market, and consider credible and therefore eligible are:

• Organic certification, see e.g. EU Guidelines on organic production and labelling of organic products . Dutch top-10 brand Gulpener has one product in its range with an EKO label (which is the Dutch sign for organic). Other smaller brands like Brouwerij 't IJ have this for the full 100%. Also Mongozo has one organic product in its range.
  
• Milieukeur certification [1], again found on all the products of Dutch top-10 brand Gulpener.
  
• Fairtrade certification [2]. This certification also covers some basic environmental criteria. Four out of five Mongozo beers have this.
  
  

This list of eligible environmental certifications may expand as we rank more brands and may find more cases.

Ranking guidelines

A ‘Yes’ is applicable when:

• The brand/company states that it uses organic or Fair Trade certified raw materials for one or more products in its product range.
• The brand uses organic certification for one or more products.

A ‘No’ is applicable when:

• The brand/company states explicitly that the do not use any organic or Fair Trade certified products in its production process

A ‘?’ is applicable when:

• The brand/company does not mention use of organic or Fair Trade certified raw materials for its product range on their website.

Answering guidelines

Answer Yes:

• [Brand] uses Fair Trade certified ingredients in its product(s) (see link/page...).
• [Brand] has […USDA NOP, EU Organic] certification for use of organic ingredients in its product(s).

Answer No:

• [Brand] explicitly says not to [...] (see link/page)

Answer ?:

• [Brand] does not communicate any information about use of organic or Fair Trade certified raw materials in its product(s), if there is any, on its website. Sustainability information should be easily accessible for consumers to make responsible choices.