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Labatt Breweries of Canada has announced a CAD 6 million (approx. $4.4 million) investment in heat recovery and energy productivity innovation at its Montreal brewery. The project aims to significantly contribute towards the decarbonisation of the brewing process through reduced energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is set to reduce the plant’s GHG emissions by 30%, optimising existing energy infrastructure and creating scalable solutions for future innovations in the brewery. The new heat recovery system will convert previously unused heat expelled from Labatt’s refrigeration systems and utilise that heat within the pasteurisation process in brewing, in lieu of consuming additional energy to generate the heat needed during pasteurisation. This expenditure comes in conjunction with capital investments in two other Labatt breweries across the country this year – London and St. John’s – to fund sustainable packaging innovations and increased production capacity. These investments, combined with the Montreal announcement, total CAD 43.1 million (approx $31.7 million) invested in Labatt’s operations from coast to coast in 2023. Sarah Genetti, vice president of procurement and sustainability at Labatt Breweries of Canada, said: “Through this investment and working closely with project partners, we've taken significant steps toward decarbonising our Montreal brewery”. She added: “With this progress towards carbon neutrality in our Montreal operations, we are another step closer to achieving our ambition of net zero by 2040 across all Labatt breweries coast to coast”.