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Climate Change & Emissions

The emissions in a beer start in the paddock: Japanese brewers and low-emission barley

Japan's major brewers have largely cleaned up their own breweries. The harder problem now sits upstream, in the barley, malt, hops and packaging they buy, and that is putting low-emission malting barley on the procurement agenda.

A ripening barley crop with a farm track running to the horizon; malting barley is central to brewers' Scope 3 emissions.

· 6 min read

These upstream emissions are Scope 3, and they are where most of a brewer's footprint lives. (New to the term? See Scope 3 emissions in agriculture, explained.)

Kirin, Asahi, Suntory and Sapporo have all set Scope 3 reduction targets. Three of them now carry separate FLAG (Forest, Land and Agriculture) targets that put farm-level emissions, including nitrous oxide from fertiliser and soil carbon loss, squarely on the brewer's balance sheet (Kirin Holdings, 2026; Asahi Group Holdings, 2024; Sapporo Breweries, n.d.).

For growers and input suppliers, this changes the buyer conversation. Low-emission malting barley is becoming a procurement requirement, not a marketing extra.

Where a brewer's emissions sit

Scope 3 is roughly 80% of Kirin's value-chain emissions, and purchased goods and services make up about 60% of its Scope 3 (Kirin Holdings, 2022). Across the four groups, the 2030 Scope 3 targets cluster at 25–30%.

A grower's hand holding malting barley grain beside a grain storage bunker.

The split between farm inputs and packaging is less settled than it looks:

  • A UK life cycle study found raw materials contribute 47–63% of a beer's impacts, and packaging 19–46%, depending on the container (Amienyo and Azapagic, 2016).
  • UK maltster Muntons, working with Suntory, puts malted barley at 39% of beer's carbon footprint (FarmingUK, 2022).
  • Asahi Beverages in Australia reports the reverse emphasis: Scope 3 is 93% of its emissions, packaging is about half of its total, and agricultural inputs are a small share of Scope 3 (Wells, 2024).
  • Sapporo's own reporting shows its FLAG (farm and land-use) emissions at about 65,000 t CO₂e, against total Scope 3 of about 1.1 million t (Sapporo Breweries, n.d.).

The takeaway is that boundary choices and accounting methods drive the answer. Barley is material in every analysis, but it is rarely the only lever, and aluminium and glass often compete with it for the top spot.

What each brewer is doing

All four have moved from brewery efficiency to supplier engagement, but they differ in how far they reach into the paddock.

  • Kirin: Scope 3 down 30% by 2030 against 2019, with a FLAG target of a 33% cut by 2030 covering Scope 1 and 3, and net zero by 2050. Its Supply Chain Environmental Program, running since April 2024, targets malt, cans and PET bottles, and it is researching biochar, no-till and cover crops at its own vineyard (Kirin Holdings, 2026).
  • Asahi: Scope 3 down 30% by 2030 against 2019, SBTi-approved near- and long-term FLAG targets, and net zero by 2040. It aims for 100% certified sustainable barley by 2030 and is running barley cultivation data trials in Czechia (Asahi Group Holdings, 2024; n.d.).
  • Suntory: Scope 3 down 30% by 2030 against 2019, and net zero by 2050 (Morrison, 2023). A separate FLAG target was not confirmed in the sources reviewed. It is running a regenerative barley trial with Muntons in Norfolk, aiming for 50% lower-emission barley within five years (FarmingUK, 2022).
  • Sapporo: Scope 3 down 25% by 2030 against 2022, with a FLAG target of a 31% cut covering Scope 1 and 3, and net zero by 2050. It is breeding climate-adapted barley and hop varieties, with registration targeted by 2030 (Sapporo Breweries, n.d.; NIES, 2023).

Three signals stand out. Kirin has priced its Scope 3 transition plan at about ¥2 billion to 2030 and now models the cost-effectiveness of each reduction measure (Kirin Holdings, 2026). Asahi reported a 14% Scope 3 reduction against 2019 for fiscal 2024, about halfway to its 2030 goal (Asahi Group Holdings, 2025). Sapporo reports a 10% FLAG reduction but only 3% across Scope 3 since 2022 (Sapporo Breweries, n.d.). Farm-level gains are coming faster than whole-of-supply-chain gains.

What it means for barley production

In the sources reviewed, none of the four groups has published yield or grain-quality outcomes from its low-emission barley programmes. The stated aim is to cut emissions without losing crop performance, not to lift yields.

  • Suntory and Muntons are baselining crop emissions first, then testing nature-based interventions designed to maintain grain quality (BFBI, 2023). The first year involved 16 farmers, about 400 acres and over 1,000 t of barley (FarmingUK, 2022).
  • Kirin frames the problem directly: high fertiliser use, tillage and monoculture maximise yield but drive nitrous oxide emissions and soil carbon loss (Kirin Holdings, 2026).
  • Sapporo's climate scenario analysis projects medium- to long-term declines in barley and hop yields in some regions, which is why it is breeding for drought and heavy-rain tolerance (NIES, 2023).

The commercial pull is already reaching Australian paddocks. Australia supplies 85% of Asahi Beverages' raw materials, and maltster Barrett Burston reported around 40–45% of its barley as sustainably accredited, against an 80% target for 2030 (Wells, 2024).

For growers, the practical message is that traceability and verified practice data are becoming conditions of supply. Yield remains the grower's economics; emissions intensity per tonne is becoming the buyer's.

What it means for the beer in the can

A standard 350 mL can of beer carries roughly 180–300 g CO₂e across its life cycle. That is our conversion from peer-reviewed per-litre figures, not a published Japanese product figure: a UK study found 0.51–0.84 kg CO₂e per litre depending on container (Amienyo and Azapagic, 2016), and a study of five Czech breweries found 0.50–0.90 kg per litre (Kafková and Weinzettel, 2025).

We could not locate a current, published per-can carbon footprint from Kirin, Asahi, Suntory or Sapporo. Sapporo trialled a carbon footprint label on its Black Label 350 mL can in 2009, the first brewer to do so (Japan for Sustainability, 2009), and Kirin now uses a "Decarbo Score" to show the CO₂ reduction effect of its products (Kirin Group, 2026).

  • If malt is about 39% of the footprint, halving barley emissions would cut the can's footprint by roughly 20%. That is the arithmetic behind the Suntory and Muntons trial's ambition (FarmingUK, 2022).
  • Container choice moves the result as much as the farm. The UK study's range is driven largely by glass versus can (Amienyo and Azapagic, 2016).
  • Brewery renewable electricity and lighter cans help, but they cannot deliver the Scope 3 targets without the farm and packaging supply chains.

The consumer-facing claim brewers will want by 2030 is a verified, lower footprint per serve. Barley grown with less nitrous oxide and more retained soil carbon is one of the few levers that improves that number at source.

What this means for Australian growers

Japanese brewers, and their Australian subsidiaries, are building low-emission barley supply chains now. Growers who can show lower emissions per tonne, with data, are likely to be first in line. Three practical implications follow:

  • Nitrogen is the pressure point. Kirin names chemical fertiliser and the resulting nitrous oxide as a major source of farm emissions (Kirin Holdings, 2026). Better nutrient use efficiency reduces that exposure.
  • Soil carbon is moving from co-benefit to target. FLAG targets count land-management emissions and removals, so practices that retain soil carbon now show up in the buyer's accounts.
  • Verification matters as much as practice. Certified, traceable supply is the stated direction for Asahi and Barrett Burston (Asahi Group Holdings, n.d.; Wells, 2024). How those results get counted is covered in insetting vs offsetting.

This is the space DuraTerra works in. We are developing a mineral granule that carries a consortium of beneficial soil microbes, designed for broadacre systems and application through existing equipment. Our planned field trials will test whether it adds value; we are not yet making claims about its effect on yield or emissions. You can read more about why we started DuraTerra.

Frequently asked questions

Why do brewers care about barley emissions?

Malted barley is one of a brewer's main purchased inputs, so emissions from growing it form part of the brewer's Scope 3 footprint and, for Kirin, Asahi and Sapporo, their FLAG targets.

What is a FLAG target?

A Forest, Land and Agriculture target under the Science Based Targets initiative. It covers emissions and removals from land use and farming, such as nitrous oxide from fertiliser and changes in soil carbon.

What is the carbon footprint of a can of beer?

Based on peer-reviewed per-litre figures, roughly 180–300 g CO₂e for a 350 mL can across its life cycle. No Japanese brewer has published a current per-can figure that we could find.

References

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