Yakima Chief Hops takes great pride in operating our business responsibly, emphasizing a focus on long-term success and the conviction that constructing value for both local communities and the planet is every bit as crucial as shareholder value. We work tirelessly to reduce our carbon footprint, lessen dependence on natural resources, and eliminate waste while empowering our communities along the way. We recognize that industry collaboration is the pivotal force for driving meaningful change and hope to inspire others to join us in creating a sustainable future.

At Yakima Chief Hops (YCH), we're not interested in following the trends – we create them. We’re driven by a passion to reshape the industry by leading the charge on sustainability. We’re thrilled to be pushing the limits and setting new standards, all in the name of a healthier planet. Our commitment to positive change fuels our innovation, and we look forward to building this legacy of making a difference. Our path forward is clear: reduce harm to the environment, make a positive impact on the lives we touch, and have as much fun as possible while setting new standards along the way.

We all know brewing is a resource-intensive process, with significant emissions generated at every stage - from the agricultural inputs like hops and malt to brewing operations themselves, and finally, through the transportation of finished products to consumers.

As one of the largest hop suppliers in the world, our global impact and influence is substantial. The environmental footprint we leave during the growth, harvest, processing, packaging, and distribution of hops can be considerable if we don't actively seek ways to reduce emissions throughout the process. That’s why we are focused on future-proofing our beloved industry by carefully considering the best investments that will help us become a more sustainable company.

In 2019, YCH integrated a CO2 Recovery Plant in our main extract facility, the first in the United States Hop Industry, from the India-based company Hypro. It is a compact, user-friendly solution for processors like us, which recovers a supply of 99.995% beverage-grade CO2. As early adopters of this relatively new technology, we have experienced success and hope to see systems like these implemented as standard. While still relatively new to the hop industry and traditionally only used in large-scale breweries, the technology is gaining traction and becoming more accessible and effective with each passing year. 

Hop extraction facilities use several tons of beverage-grade carbon dioxide to make CO2 extract products. Running 330 days per year, the main extract facility at YCH averages usage of 6.4 tons of CO2 per day.

Since launching our first CO2 recovery plant five years ago, we’ve slashed our carbon emissions by an impressive 2,118 tons annually - CO2 that would have otherwise entered the atmosphere.  Once captured, the beverage-grade CO2 gas is then filtered, deodorized, recondensed, and reused back in our extraction system. This creates a closed loop, effectively taking a waste by-product and streaming it back into the business as new material. This significantly reduces the amount of CO2 we need to purchase to carry out operations (we have cut over 100 CO2 deliveries!), another bonus. The circular approach of carbon capture resonates perfectly with our sustainability and financial goals, so including this technology in our business model has become a top priority.

Our carbon capture recovery system operates with a 97% efficiency rating. Since bringing it online in our main extract plant, we have:

  • Prevented roughly 11,000 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.  
  • Reduced over 25 tons of carbon emissions through the lessening of our dependence on CO2 purchases and deliveries.
  • Reclaimed 2,200 tons annually of CO2 for reuse in our closed-loop recovery system.

We look forward to implementing a similar recovery system in our second extract plant, enhancing our ability to recover and reuse even more CO2. This initiative aims to decrease dependence on the unpredictable CO2 market but also lessen our environmental impact. By continuously innovating our processes, we are setting new benchmarks for sustainability and environmental responsibility in our industry. As we lower emissions associated with our products and minimize our ecological footprint, we are also helping you reduce yours. Together, let’s raise a glass to a more sustainable brewing future!