CO2 shortage: Lessons learned from a storm in a pint glass?

I can remember where I was when news of the great CO2 shortage broke; I was still in the birthing centre a little while after welcoming our second daughter into the world.

I had been informed that there were supply issues a couple of weeks beforehand – mainly in mainland Europe but as yet, unsubstantiated. However, the team at gasworld continued to investigate the situation and soon discovered that CO2 had gone ‘critical’.

One week later, and a storm in a pint glass was brewing as gasworld broke the story and the world at large began to realise how important carbon dioxide (CO2) is to everyday life as the whirlwind of the world’s mainstream press reported on beer gas shortages and commodity production squeezes.