This UK-based company is expanding its focus on sustainability in the cannabis industry.

• Glass Pharms, a U.K.-based company, claims to be the first in the world to grow cannabis in a carbon-neutral manner. In fact, the company boasts that it goes beyond this and produces cannabis in a carbon-negative way, without purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions.
• In 2023, the business completed construction of its greenhouse cultivation facility in the south of England, where it was established in 2020.
• James Duckenfield, CEO, stated that there is a genuine demand for cannabis as a medicine in the U.K., but this need is not being met well.

Obviously, growing cannabis indoors consumes a significant amount of energy, leading to increased emissions.

Some companies, such as U.K.-based cultivator Glass Pharms, are attempting to combat the negative environmental impact of cannabis cultivation by growing it indoors in a carbon-neutral way. Glass Pharms claims to be the world's first company to produce cannabis in a carbon-negative way, without purchasing carbon credits to offset emissions.

James Duckenfield, CEO of the company, revealed on a video call with CNBC that their greenhouse facility in England's south uses an anaerobic digestion plant to generate power, which processes waste food that would otherwise go to landfill and produce methane, reducing emissions.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change uses carbon dioxide as a reference when measuring the global warming potential (GWP) of other greenhouse gases. Specifically, methane has been estimated to have 28 times the GWP of CO2 over a 100-year timeframe.

Duckenfield stated that Glass Pharms' process is carbon negative because it takes into account equivalent measures of methane emissions.

The anaerobic digestion plant converts biogas into electricity, which also produces waste heat. This heat is then utilized to heat and cool Glass Pharms' greenhouse.

Duckenfield stated that when we have the energy, we are highly productive with it.

He explained that instead of using horizontal fans, air is flowed through plants vertically in greenhouses, creating a convection current that disrupts microclimates and prevents mold growth.

The facility's water supply is harvested, treated, and recycled from the rain that lands on its roof.

Glass Pharms' greenhouse facility operates independently of the energy grid and uses rainwater for irrigation.

'Very energy intensive'

The greenhouse cannabis industry is known for being "very energy intensive" due to the significant amount of light, water, and humidity control required.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and Europol estimate that an indoor cannabis cultivation site with 500 plants that operates year-round could consume between 1.6 million and 2 million liters of water annually.

The analysis revealed that producing 1 kg of indoor herbal cannabis requires approximately 6,000 kilowatt hours of energy, which translates to releasing 1,374 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere in Europe. This is equivalent to driving a plug-in hybrid electric car nearly 3 miles.

UK 'lagging behind'

Before becoming CEO of Glass Pharms, Duckenfield had already developed a strong interest in environmental issues.

He trained as a chemist but ended up in technology. Now, he's returning to his passion and using his chemistry to build an environmentally responsible business.

In 2023, Glass Pharms completed construction of its greenhouse cultivation facility and harvested 14 times last year. The company was granted the first U.K. commercial license to supply high-THC cannabis flower to lawful pharmaceutical companies by the Home Office in 2021.

In 2018, the U.K. legalized the medical use of cannabis, allowing specialist doctors to prescribe unlicensed cannabis-based medicinal products.

In the U.K., most cannabis-based products for medical use (CBPMs) are not licensed, meaning they have not been evaluated for safety and effectiveness by the regulatory agency and have not been authorized for marketing.

The Health and Social Care Committee's 2019 report pointed out that there were still gaps in research on medicinal cannabis due to the 2018 restrictions, which made it harder to conduct "robust clinical trials to test efficacy and safety."

According to a publication by National Health Service England in 2023, many doctors and their professional bodies expressed concerns about the long-term safety and efficacy of unlicensed products, despite their widespread use.

Before prescribing can become more widespread, additional evidence of benefits and harms is necessary.

In England between November 2018 and July 2022, 89,239 unlicensed cannabis-based medicines were privately prescribed, while fewer than five of these unlicensed medicines were prescribed through the NHS by the U.K.'s NHS Business Services Authority, which released the data in January 2023.

In 2022, a YouGov survey commissioned by Curaleaf Clinic found that approximately 1.8 million people in the U.K. used illegal cannabis products to manage symptoms related to chronic physical and mental health conditions.

Duckenfield stated that the U.K. was falling behind other countries in viewing cannabis as a mainstream medicine.

Despite GW Pharmaceuticals being a leader in the space, Jazz Pharmaceuticals bought the company for $7.2 billion in 2021.

Duckenfield stated that as a country, we should promote the growth of the medical cannabis industry by having the government publicly support it.