LONDON — As the world frets over the prospect of another energy shock, Brits have zeroed in on a more niche concern: the fate of the great British pint — and it’s a crisis with Donald Trump’s fingerprints all over it.

On Thursday morning’s broadcast round, Britain’s Trade Secretary Peter Kyle found himself in the unusual position of reassuring the public about potential beer shortages as carbon dioxide supplies come under pressure.

Supplies of the gas — needed for everything from fizzy drinks and food production to healthcare and even aspects of the nuclear industry — are being squeezed as the Iran war drives up energy costs, reducing output from the plants that produce much of it as a by-product.

British officials are drawing up contingency plans for a “reasonable worst-case scenario” in the event the closure of the Strait of Hormuz leads to a full-blown shortage, The Times reported Wednesday.

But the strain on Britain’s domestic CO2 supply predates the conflict. A controversial trade deal struck with Washington last year undercut domestic bioethanol plants — one of Britain’s key sources of CO2 — leaving the country more vulnerable to shortages of the gas just as global supply tightens.

The U.K.’s largest bioethanol plant, the Vivergo facility in Hull, closed following the deal, and the Ensus bioethanol plant in Teesside ceased production. Ensus blamed its decision to mothball the plant on the U.K.-U.S. trade deal hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump in an Oval Office press briefing.

In an attempt to stave off a CO2 crisis, the U.K. government stepped in with a £100 million support package to restart production at Ensus last month — something Kyle told Sky News on Thursday was explicitly because “the byproduct of the bioethanol that it produces is CO2.”

Even before tensions escalated in the Middle East, ministers had concluded it was important to preserve domestic resilience in a critical part of the supply chain, he added.

The decision to restart the plant was made early in the Iran conflict and it is now “back up to full operation producing CO2,” the senior minister said, as he urged people to “go on as they are enjoying beer, enjoying their meats, enjoying all the salads.”

The British Beer and Pub Association tried to stave off potential hysteria about flat or non-existent pints Thursday insisting they are not aware of any imminent issues.

But a spokesperson said they would “remain in close contact with the government to highlight any concerns and explore solutions about any indications of potential CO2 disruption or shortage.”

Farm warning

Britain’s farmers, who rely on the gas to stun livestock before slaughter and package meat, are more concerned.

“We currently have a significant number of pigs already backed up on farm as a result of abattoir issues at the end of last year,” Katie Jarvis, chief policy adviser at the National Pig Association, said.

“We are concerned that the ongoing war in the Middle East could exacerbate this situation further,” she added, warning there would be “huge ramifications” for animal welfare and for cash-strapped farmers forced to house and feed the animals if pigs can’t move through the supply chain.

Jarvis welcomed plans to temporarily reopen the Ensus bioethanol plant, and urged ministers to prioritize the meat processing sector in the event of any CO2 shortages.

John Powell, chief executive of the British Meat Processors Association, also welcomed the return to production in Teeside, saying it provides “a little more security should things change.”

It would be “preferable to have that domestic supply” for long-term food security, he said, while also stressing there is “no immediate concern about food supplies,” and “our CO2 supply is still fully functional.”

Lessons learned

Chris Elliott, a professor of food policy at Queen’s University Belfast, said the current strain on CO2 supplies reflects a pattern of repeated vulnerability in the U.K.’s manufacturing base, particularly in sectors such as fertilizer production, which also generates CO2 as a key byproduct.

“The severity of the current situation has been compounded by earlier decisions taken during the Ukraine war and subsequent energy crisis, when key U.K. fertilizer plants closed and the government failed to provide sustained support to maintain this strategically vital domestic capacity,” he said.

“The fact that the U.K. now finds itself facing renewed shortages suggests that few, if any, meaningful lessons were learned by the government from the CO2 crisis triggered by the Ukraine war.”

A government spokesperson said: “We took decisive action last month to shore up the UK’s critical supplies of CO2 by temporarily restarting the Ensus bioethanol plant in Teesside and are continuing to work closely with business groups to tackle the impacts of events in the Middle East.

“Reasonable Worst Case Scenarios are a planning tool used by experts and are not a prediction of future events,” they added.