BrewDog to replace 250,000 dead trees in £2.7m Scottish Highlands forest scheme

Beer giant BrewDog is receiving almost £3 million in public funds as the firm vowed to replace by the next planting season the hundreds of thousands of tree saplings that died last year.

The Aberdeenshire-based company had made headlines after campaigner Nick Kempe found through Freedom of Information requests that about half of the trees planted in the Lost Forest in 2023 at Kinrara estate, near Aviemore, had died.

BrewDog had set out to plant about one million trees in total on the estate after purchasing the land in 2020. This was amid claims the move would help remove twice as much carbon from the environment as the firm emits, making the company carbon neutral.

Brewdog has a major planting plan for Kinrara estate, which stalled last year after half of the saplings planted died

Figures have now revealed the beer giant is to receive a total of £2.7m worth of public money as it prepares to replace the dead saplings and extended planting.

Scottish Forestry confirmed £1.2m had been received by the firm, with a further £1.5m already agreed and which relates to a second, separate stage of planting, which is now underway.

The Government agency said grants paid to date went towards the costs of establishment of trees, fencing, initial planting and annual maintenance.

There was a 50 to 56 per cent estimate for Scots pine mortality on the Kinrara estate by September last year, according to the documents, with samples also showing half of the saplings in areas where birch was planted had died.

BrewDog founder James Watt had previously said “our partners have estimated that around 50 per cent of the 500,000 saplings planted did not survive their first 12 months”.

He said the summer prior to getting the first round of trees in the ground saw “extreme conditions” that “resulted in a higher-than-expected failure rate, particularly Scots pine”, which is one of the 11 species planted on the estate.

Founder of BrewDog, James Watt, at his home in London. Picture: Ed Hill/PA Media Assignments | PA

The company is reported to have said 80 per cent of lost saplings have now already been replaced, with the remaining 20 per cent to be planted during the next available planting season. It is also claimed BrewDog will extend planting further.

A spokesperson for Scottish Forestry said losses in the first year were “very common” and that “nothing that unusual has occurred at the Lost Forest”.

The spokesperson said: “Scottish Forestry is content that the Lost Forest scheme has been planted and is being implemented in line with both the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) contract and the UK Forestry Standard. This includes the forestry agent carrying out appropriate maintenance such as replacing trees that died.”

The agency said it was a requirement in the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) that when trees were lost, the forest agents replaced them.

The spokesperson said: “As with all FGS projects, Scottish Forestry has the right to reclaim grants throughout the 20-year contract period when the conditions of a contract have not been fulfilled.”