Announcing the Global Drinks Intel ESG Awards 2023

Your opportunity to be part of a unique and exciting new launch: The Global Drinks Intel ESG Awards 2023.

Rapidly changing consumer behaviour – especially among the all-important younger LDA consumer cohort – is driving on-premise and retail buyers to increasingly favour brands and companies that boast the best environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials.

A commitment to ESG is no longer an add-on, but a real business imperative for all companies in all industries.

Consumers of every generation, particularly Gen-Zers (aged 18-24) and Millennials (25–39), have displayed a willingness to support brands and companies that actively promote their commitments to the planet and society. According to Nielsen, 83% of Millennial consumers prefer to purchase from environmentally friendly companies. Meanwhile, recent research by Deloitte found that nearly one in three consumers claims to have stopped purchasing certain brands due to ethical or sustainability-related concerns.

Consequently, operators across all sales channels are basing their purchasing decisions on high sustainability credentials.

It’s not just consumers and buyers: investors are also prioritising ESG when choosing which companies to back. Indeed, the investment mantra ‘growth at all costs’ has been turned on its head – ‘growth at no cost’ matters much more nowadays, as do factors such as marketing your product responsibly as well as ensuring in-company gender balance and promoting diversity across all operations.

There has never been a more critical time to be able to shout about the environmental, social and governance steps you are taking as a business. To recognise these efforts, Global Drinks Intel is launching the first ESG-dedicated awards programme for the alcohol industry.

The Global Drinks Intel ESG Awards 2023 is a unique and unprecedented programme to raise the awareness – and reward the achievements – of those who are leading the way in ESG. The awards will also provide a platform for promoting the latest trends and solutions.

Winners will receive third-party credibility from our independent judging panel of sustainability and drinks industry experts, as well as unrivalled recognition on a national and international scale. The results will be announced at the TFWA World Exhibition & Conference in Cannes between 1 and 5 October 2023.

Here are the award categories.

Two of our top awards look at the overall sustainability of either a particular product or its producer in the spirits and wine categories. Consideration will be given more broadly to the environmental credentials shown by brand owners and their brands, including – but not limited to – their use of packaging, their methods of production and their methods of transportation.

There’s doing a good thing, then there’s telling a good story about doing the good thing. As businesses battle against charges of greenwashing, the most effective counterargument is in the strong marketing of initiatives. The most resonant sustainability activations in the consumer’s eye will be recognised by this award category.

All beverage companies, whether at their owned operations or in collaboration with suppliers, have been working hard to cut down their more harmful environmental aspects. For carbon, greenhouse gases and water, ‘reduction’ and ‘offset’ have become part of the lexicon of the 21st-Century alcohol industry, as this award attests to.

When it comes to packaging – in plastic or glass, and not forgetting closures – beverage companies have been working to introduce changes that chime more closely with consumer demand for cleaner, greener and more environmentally friendly products. This award is for those who have not only met that challenge but overcome it in the eyes of the consumer.

Giving back to the planet has become a cornerstone for many industries, not least for the drinks industry, which is so reliant on natural resources. Whether it is returning land to its original status or encouraging wildlife to prosper, doing good for the natural environment garners not only consumer support but also this award.

Drinking to excess, along with related harms such as drink-driving, causes damage not only to individuals’ health but also to society more widely. ‘Drink less, but better’ has morphed into actively encouraging moderation, as the winners of this award will be recognised for.

The Global Drinks Intel ESG Awards 2023 – Global Travel Retail

This award is dedicated to the company – whether producer or operator (airport, inflight or ferry/cruise) – that in its GTR activities has gone above and beyond to exercise – and promote – its environmental achievements and capabilities, the best of the best.

The manifold marketing opportunities available throughout the consumer’s travel journey give rise to some of the most innovative activations in drinks. Utilising this innovation to showcase green cues will qualify you for this award.

The product is front and centre for this award, which recognises those that boast the strongest environmental credentials on the shelves of GTR.

Click here to enter The Global Drinks Intel ESG Awards 2023.