Shakespeare Distillery has announced it has been certified as Carbon Neutral after a full-scale carbon footprint assessment and off-setting programme.

The independent artisan spirit producer says it is working to minimise its environmental impact and become a truly sustainable business.

Over the summer months, with the support of the University of Warwick Internship programme, the company employed a carbon footprint data analyst.

With the help of Climate Partner UK, the analyst calculated their entire CO2 emissions from spirit production to delivery and looked at ways to reduce the distillery's carbon footprint.

The company had already invested in energy efficient stills and is using a fully carbon neutral waste management company as well as offering a bottle refill scheme.

It also has its own small garden where it grows rosemary for gin distillation and are planting more botanicals, so it doesn't need to transport them in from elsewhere.

The distillery is primarily run-on renewable energy with solar panels on the roof. Following the completion of the analysis, further steps have been taken including investment in a new fully electric delivery van.

Peter Monks, director at Shakespeare Distillery said "We are one of a few Carbon Neutral Distilleries in the UK but we hope this is the start of a growing number of craft producers who follow this ethos.

"There is still a great deal we can do but we have now started our sustainable journey and already we're making an impact. The importance of considering sustainability in every business decision around procurement and our operation is hugely significant to us."