Diageo announced 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.
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.
Ivan Menezes, CEO, 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.”
Highlights from the ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress plan include:
Promoting positive drinking
- By 2030, Diageo will reach more than 1 billion people with messages of moderation from its brands;
- Will change the attitudes of 5 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 program 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.
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.