A new study published in the journal “Environmental International” outlines a novel way to help reduce carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions (harmful greenhouse gases): drink gin made from pea starch instead of the traditional wheat. This might be an easy way to increase efforts against climate change in the countries doing the least to protect the environment.
The study, called “Just the tonic! Legume biorefining for alcohol has the potential to reduce Europe’s protein deficit and mitigate climate change,” found that pea-starch gin had a smaller environmental footprint than the conventional kind in 12 categories. This was due in part to the fact that growing wheat requires the use of nitrogen fertilizers, while legumes like peas can source nitrogen directly from the atmosphere.
Using byproducts of pea-starch gin production as animal feed would reduce the environmental impact even further by reducing the need to import soybeans – associated with deforestation in Latin America.
Gin was the focus of the study not only because it’s one of the most popular spirits worldwide but also because research for the paper was conducted in association with Scotland’s Arbikie Distillery, which is already experimenting with producing gin from pea starch as well as processing the byproducts to feed farm animals.