Barcardi to ramp up responsible drinking efforts

The world’s largest privately owned drinks company, Bacardi Limited, has announced plans to strengthen and expand its responsible drinking and responsible marketing efforts globally.

The initiatives are designed to combat underage drinking, educate consumers on responsible consumption, garner increased support from retailers to promote responsible drinking and reduce the rate of drinking and driving-related accidents.

“These are very real CR commitments and ongoing initiatives,” commented Eric Kraus, senior vp, chief communications and corporate affairs officer. “We see these actions as not only an essential matter of corporate responsibility, but also an important area of collaboration with our consumers, key customers and suppliers, as well as with employees and opinion leaders.”

Bacardi has also undertaken a long-term responsible sourcing plan to purchase the sugarcane-derived products it uses only from sources that are certified as sustainable. These sources have to comply with stringent standards for fair labour, environmental protection and renewable energy, from farmer to end-user. Bacardi has been an industry leader in this effort as a founding member of Bonsucro, a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to reducing the environmental and social impacts of sugarcane production.

The company’s long-term target is to source 100% of its sugarcane-derived products from sustainable sources by 2022. Bacardi is currently on track to achieve its target to source more than 40% of sugarcane-derived products from sustainable sources by 2017.

The commitments follow Barcardi’s publication of its annual report on corporate responsibility entitled, Our Spirit is Clear.