INTENSE behind-the-scenes lobbying by the multinational whisky industry forced the Scottish Government’s green watchdog to back down on plans to toughen pollution controls, The Ferret can reveal.
Over 150 files released under Freedom of Information law show that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) shelved a scheme to improve the regulation of up to 20 whisky waste plants following 18 months of sustained pressure from big distillers.
The files include a suggestion that Sepa had “felt the need to roll over” whenever it had been challenged by the industry.
Negotiations about pollution controls had been helped by “a significant presence of ex-Sepa staff” working for whisky firms, one company executive said.
Campaigners accused Sepa of “regulatory capture” by giving in to whisky industry complaints and criticised the “revolving doors” enabling the industry to employ ex-Sepa experts.
One previous Sepa chief executive warned that “the journey of being leaned on risks ending in simple corruption”. Sepa defended its role regulating the environment and said it protected communities “based on science, evidence and law”.
The whisky industry claimed its dialogue with Sepa ensured that policy changes were “environmentally and commercially sound”.
First Minister John Swinney flew to Washington DC on September 8 with a delegation from the Scottish whisky industry to try and persuade the Trump administration to cut tariffs on spirits.
According to the files released by Sepa, from early 2024, it had a clear intention to remove an exemption it gave to distillery waste plants in 2013.
This enabled the industry’s growing number of waste treatment plants to avoid pollution rules.
The plants use a technology known as anaerobic digestion, which has expanded greatly in Scotland since 2000. Similar to composting, but without using oxygen, waste materials rot to produce biogas for energy and fertilisers for farming.
Sepa pointed out that the plants can result in “significant pollution”, killing river and sea life.
It had seen “several serious environmental events” which “have caused significant impacts to watercourses, mostly due to poor design, construction and management”.
Sepa’s aim was to ensure a “level playing field”, and bring the rules applying to whisky waste plants in line with those which apply to the brewing and dairy industries. It insisted that residues from distilleries were waste, not “by-products” as the industry claimed.
However, in a series of private emails, briefings and meetings in 2024 and 2025, the industry strenuously objected. It complained about the costs of meeting tougher pollution controls, particularly for plants which discharge waste to sea via long pipes, and argued that anaerobic digestion helped cut climate pollution.
In August 2024, an unnamed employee from the whisky giant, Diageo, emailed Sepa, questioning the move and referring to policy “from my time at Sepa”. The London-based company owns 32 distilleries in Scotland and markets Johnnie Walker, Bell’s and Talisker whiskies.
In November 2024, an unnamed manager from the French drinks firm, Pernod Ricard, which owns Chivas Brothers in Scotland, emailed Sepa. She or he was concerned that Sepa’s proposals were “driven by an individual perspective, ideology or an agenda to increase regulated site numbers” – but hoped this was a “miscommunication”.
The email referred to a previous discussion about what a “new relationship” with Sepa might look like.
“I would be seriously concerned if there was a genuine view within Sepa that it has previously felt the need to roll over whenever the industry has raised a regulatory issue,” the Pernod Ricard manager said.
The manager had been on the industry’s environment working group for 12 years. She or he said this had been “an entirely constructive forum for open discussion by both sides in order to test new Sepa proposals”, helped by “the sector’s high level of collaboration between companies and a significant presence of ex-Sepa staff within the team.”
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), which represents the big distillers, warned in February 2025 that Sepa’s pollution controls would “threaten the closure” of up to 20 anaerobic digestion plants serving most of the industry. This could have “a domino effect of ceasing distillery production for over 60 single malt scotch whisky sites”, it said.
In an internal email in April 2025, Sepa admitted it had been under pressure not to end the whisky industry’s 2013 waste exemption, known as a regulatory position statement (RPS).
“This has caused some considerable concern from the industry and from the SWA,” wrote a Sepa official.
“Following an official representation from the SWA on behalf of its members, several high-level meetings with Sepa have taken place on this matter. I would confirm that as a result of this, the organisation has taken the decision not to review the current RPS and it will remain in force while discussions continue on this and a range of linked issues.”
In May 2025, all Sepa’s senior management team and its board visited and toured the distillery run by William Grant & Sons in Girvan on the South Ayrshire coast, where there are anaerobic digestion facilities. Transport to the event from Sepa offices or central Glasgow was provided by the SWA, which also attended.
The Scottish Government requested an “urgent readout” of the visit from Sepa in advance of a scheduled meeting with the SWA. In reply, Sepa said that the industry had thanked two senior Sepa officials for “stepping in” on the anaerobic digestion issue.
"We were both committed to a good collaborative relationship focusing on our shared objectives,” Sepa said. There would be “engagement to ensure that we are having the right conversations,” it added. “We also had a great tour!”
The Scottish Government then reported back from its meeting that the SWA “had seen a real improvement in the working relationship with Sepa at the senior level”. But SWA still had an issue with Sepa’s “scope creep” on regulating anaerobic digestion.
Professor Andrew Watterson, an expert on environmental regulation from the University of Stirling, said the files released by Sepa showed a “blatant attempt to pressure regulators to back off enforcement on significant pollution problems”.
He told The Ferret: “It’s very difficult not to draw the conclusion from evidence available that some companies in the whisky industry are engaged in regulatory capture to soften pollution controls.
“This looks to be compounded by more revolving doors involving regulatory staff moving into posts in industry, which, although perfectly legal, is a bad look and must damage public confidence in the regulatory process.”
Professor Campbell Gemmell, who was Sepa’s chief executive between 2003 and 2012, said the long delay in introducing pollution controls for whisky waste plants was “deeply concerning”. He warned that the risks of regulatory capture were real.
“If pressure is being applied to go soft on an operator, however important they may be, the risk to good regulation, to the environment and to basic ethical standards may take time to crystallise but is real and serious,” said Gemmell. “The journey of being leaned on risks ending in simple corruption.”
The food campaign group, Nourish Scotland, called for Sepa’s regulation of whisky waste plants to be investigated by the Scottish Government’s enforcement body, Environmental Standards Scotland.
“Even the appearance of regulators rolling over in the face of industry pressure undermines public confidence,” said director Pete Ritchie.
“Sending whisky co-products to anaerobic digestion is a waste of the high-quality nutrients which should instead be re-processed for animal feed, fish feed and other products as part of the circular economy.”
Former minister and Scottish Greens co-leader, Patrick Harvie MSP (above), said: “This raises a lot of serious questions about the undue influence of big business and lobbying, and the profound and damaging impact it can have on policy.
“The accusations that Sepa has rolled over are particularly concerning and need answers. When industry is calling for delays to regulations, it is rarely done to serve our environment.”
Sepa defended its regulation of the whisky industry. “Sepa’s role is to regulate Scotland’s environment and protect communities, based on science, evidence and law,” said the agency’s chief officer, Kirsty-Louise Campbell.
“At the current time, Sepa’s 2013 regulatory position remains in place, however, an evidence-led review is under way.”
The SWA stressed it was committed to long-term sustainability over the whole whisky production process. “Our decarbonisation efforts must be worked through in collaboration with regulatory bodies and the Scottish Government if they are to achieve our shared ambitious goals,” said the association’s sustainability director, Ruth Piggin.
“It is appropriate that on behalf of the sector, the SWA will continue to work with regulators such as Sepa, with whom an ongoing dialogue is both necessary and valuable to ensure that policy amends to production processes are environmentally and commercially sound.”
Diageo and Pernod Ricard declined to comment, deferring to SWA’s statement. William Grant and Sons did not respond to requests to comment.
