Earlier this year, Drinks Trade spoke with Diageo Australia's Director of Corporate Affairs Amanda Lampe about the role of drinks businesses in improving inclusion and equality in the sector.
Here, Managing Director Dan Hamilton reflects on the progress Diageo Australia has made towards its Environmental, Social, and Governance priorities over the past 12 months:
“Our ambition at Diageo is to be the one of the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world.
With more than 200 brands that are sold in nearly 180 countries, our portfolio has remarkable breadth and depth. From centuries-old names like Johnnie Walker Scotch Whisky to the latest innovations like Don Julio Rosado, or the local heritage of Australia’s famous Bundaberg Rum, we're committed to building and sustaining exceptional brands.
We employ more than 30,000 people globally and with such a significant footprint in so many markets, a fundamental and guiding principle for our business is operating responsibly. Doing business the right way, and having a positive societal impact is at the heart of our strategy and is brought to life through our ongoing ESG action plan, Spirit of Progress. With close to 450 people employed locally in Australia and an end-to-end supply and value chain in this market, our three global ESG priorities – promote positive drinking, champion inclusion and diversity, and pioneer grain-to-glass sustainability, all underpin everything we do here in Australia.
Promote positive drinking
We want to change the way people drink for the better, by engaging, educating and empowering consumers to make informed choices about drinking.
We do this through programs that tackle alcohol misuse and harm such as Smashed, the theatre-in-education program delivered by our partner Gibber Australia. Smashed has now reached more than 330,000 Australian students since it was launched in this market in 2018 aimed at educating Aussie students of the harm of underage drinking. Last year, the post-performance evaluations found that 81% of students surveyed said they would be ‘less likely’ to drink alcohol after watching the performance and more than 86% said they thought Smashed was ‘a good way to learn about the dangers of underage drinking’.
Champion inclusion and diversity
There is power in diversity and at Diageo, our ambition hasn’t changed, we want to create and foster a culture that is inclusive and where our teams reflect the diversity of the communities in which we operate. Championing inclusion and diversity is core to our purpose which is ‘celebrating life, every day, everywhere’.
It gives me enormous pride that my current executive leadership team is 66% female, and we have a global goal of achieving 50% representation of women in leadership roles by 2030. We also have a global goal of 45% of leaders being from ethnically diverse backgrounds by 2030.
It’s not just in our employee base that we’re trying to make a difference. We know that our brands have a hugely important role to play in championing inclusion and diversity.
Our Progressive Marketing framework is at the forefront of challenging stereotypes and celebrating diversity in front of the camera and behind the camera.
We use our influence and spend to create a media and advertising environment where, from script to screen, everyone sees themselves represented.
Diageo Australia was a founding member of the Unstereotype Alliance Australia chapter, Bundaberg Rum partnered with the NRL on the world’s first mixed gender fantasy league to help elevate the women’s game, and Johnnie Walker was a sponsor of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras this year, while Smirnoff has been running a global campaign called We Do We that’s all about the power of the collective and the magic of ‘we’ when we bring together and embrace our differences.
Pioneer grain-to-glass sustainability
We all have a responsibility to preserve the natural resources of our environment and at Diageo, a key environmental sustainability focus is accelerating to a low-carbon world.
The nature of our business means that packaging represents a significant part of our supply chain carbon and we’re committed to making our packaging more sustainable.
We’re working to reduce our value chain carbon footprint by reducing packaging weight, increasing our recycled content, reducing single use packaging, and deploying and scaling circular business models.
An important part of addressing our scope 3 emissions is through our packaging. We want to transition to a world where high-quality, affordable, and sustainable packaging becomes the standard for drinks products.
Some of the progress we’ve already made is all our glass and can packaging is 100% recyclable, we’ve eliminated all shrink film from transportation units that have removed 150 tonnes of plastic annually, and we’ve reduced our waste to landfill by 70% in three years. Last year we reduced our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 36% and Scope 3 transport emissions by 35%. There’s so much more work that needs to be done though and ultimately our goal is to achieve net zero carbon emissions. To do that we’ll need to work with the industry and our partners, because it’s going to take a collective effort from us all.”
This article was written by Dan Hamilton for Drinks Guide 2025, which will be distributed nationwide soon. If you would like a copy and are not currently on the Drinks Trade/Guide magazine mailing list, get in touch with the team now.
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