Diageo launches new ten-year sustainability action plan

By 2030, Diageo’s ‘SOCIETY 2030: SPIRIT OF PROGRESS’ plan will enable the company to:

• Reach 1 billion people with messages of moderation through its brands
• Achieve Net Zero carbon emissions across direct operations
• Increase representation of leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds to 45%
• Use 30% less water in every drink it makes

Diageo, maker of Guinness and Baileys has announced a range of 25 bold and ambitious goals in its ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress’ plan, designed to make a positive impact on the world by 2030, in  the ‘Decade of Action’ to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals .

Building on a long track-record of ESG progress globally, Diageo will focus its action over the next ten years in three core areas, carefully selected to align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): promoting positive drinking; championing inclusion and diversity; and pioneering grain-to-glass sustainability.  

In Ireland the Guinness and Baileys brands will lead the implementation of Diageo’s 2030 targets. Every drink produced will take 30% less water than it does today, packaging will be 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable and the production operations on the island of Ireland will become net carbon neutral. The brands will also work in collaboration with farmers and those in its value chain to halve their indirect carbon emissions by 2030. Diageo Ireland also announced in September that the proposed Guinness Quarter development at St. James’s Gate aims to be Dublin’s first carbon neutral district.

John Kennedy, Diageo’s President of Europe, Turkey and India, said: “As a global business, we are committed to playing our part to protect the future of our planet and to leading the way for others to follow. I am immensely proud of Diageo’s sustainability and responsibility achievements to date, and this new, ambitious action plan will challenge us even further to deliver more over the critical decade to 2030.

 Across our Irish operations, we have already demonstrated our commitment to sustainability with a massive focus on reducing our environmental footprint across carbon, water and waste. Recent achievements include a 32% reduction in CO2 emissions and halving water usage at St James’s Gate. Similarly, at our Baileys operation on Nangor Road 100% of the electricity supplied is renewable and zero carbon.”

 Highlights from the ‘SOCIETY 2030: SPIRIT OF PROGRESS’ plan include:

 Promoting positive drinking

• By 2030, Diageo will reach more than one billion people with messages of moderation from its brands;
• Will change the attitudes of five million drivers towards drink driving; and
• Will educate over 10 million people on the dangers of drinking underage through ‘SMASHED’, Diageo’s award-winning alcohol education awareness programme, now operating in every continent.

Championing inclusion and diversity

• Diageo will build on its strong track record of inclusion and diversity by setting an industry-leading ambition to have 45% representation of leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds by 2030 as well as 50% of all leaders being women; and
• Diageo will also provide skills and training to over 1.7m people to help create an inclusive and thriving hospitality sector.

John Kennedy continued: “By setting both gender and ethnicity goals for the business to achieve by 2030, I believe we can truly break down barriers and help shape a more diverse and successful long-term business and society.”

Pioneering grain-to-glass sustainability

• Diageo has committed to working towards a low-carbon future, harnessing 100% renewable energy to achieve net zero carbon emissions across direct operations and working with suppliers to reduce indirect carbon emissions by 50%; and
• As the first step in its net zero ambition, Diageo’s prestigious Scottish distilleries of Oban and Royal Lochnagar will both become carbon neutral by the end of 2020 and Diageo will aim to achieve net zero in India by 2025; and
• By 2030 Diageo will ensure that every drink it produces will take 30% less water to make than it does today and will achieve a net positive water impact in our key water stressed basins and communities; and
• It will also deliver over 150 community water projects across the world, including providing access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene; and
• Diageo will support over 150,000 smallholder farmers with farming techniques to regenerate the land and build biodiversity; and
• By 2030 ensure that the business is using 100% recycled content in plastic packaging and that 100% of Diageo’s packaging will be widely recyclable.

Diageo also recently launched ‘Sustainable Solutions, a global platform that will provide non-equity funding to start-up and technology companies in order to develop to help Diageo continue to embed sustainability in its supply chain and brands. Designed to support small companies and entrepreneurs develop and commercialise their innovations, Diageo will share global resources and experience to unlock future potential for both partners.

 Ewan Andrew, Chief Sustainability Officer and President, Diageo Supply & Procurement, said: “It is vital that we act now if we want to maintain the wonderful world we all live in. I’m proud that we have already halved our own carbon footprint and that we are going to push ourselves further by becoming carbon neutral by 2030. It feels fitting that we are leading the way with Oban and Royal Lochnagar distilleries, which will both be carbon neutral by the end of the year.”

Further information relating to all 25 goals can be found on Diageo.com

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