Diageo North America announced its plans to invest $245 million in its Crown Royal brand to build a new distillery in Ontario in its latest effort to move toward net-zero carbon sustainability.
Coming off the heels of the Diageo Lebanon Distillery, the company’s first carbon-neutral whiskey distillery in North America that produces Bulleit Bourbon in Lebanon, Kentucky. The plans to build this new facility in Canada are part of Diageo’s Society 2030: Spirit of Progress initiative, a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon across 50% of direct operations by 2030 and 100% by 2050. The company plans to have the new distillery online by 2025, which according to a press release, will operate with 100% renewable energy to ensure zero waste to landfills.
“Crown Royal is the heart of our whisk(e)y business, as the most valuable whisky brand. It’s critical when we extend our footprint that we are committed to creating a more sustainable world,” said Sophie Kelly, Senior Vice President of Whiskies, Diageo North America. “We are thrilled by this new world-class distillery. It will enable us to drive momentum to 2030 and beyond to elevate Crown Royal as a best-in-class whisky brand that leads innovation in the industry.”
Globally, Diageo owns three Scottish distilleries, Brora, Royal Lochnagar, and Oban, which are already carbon-neutral, and recently announced the construction of a carbon-neutral whisky distillery in China. These environmental efforts align with its membership of the United Nations Global Compact, We Mean Business Coalition, a group of organizations dedicated to supporting science-based sustainable development goals.
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