Pernod Ricard Furthers Sustainable Steps With Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller partners up with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation — reinforcing its commitment to reducing waste through collaboration and innovation in circular design.
On the eve of Earth Day on 21 April, Pernod Ricard revealed news of becoming a partner of the international charity, Ellen MacArthur Foundation. A very timely announcement, with ESG — environmental, social and governance — increasingly becoming a trend and must for companies.
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Best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis, Pernod Ricard has been a signatory of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment since 2018. The French beverages company reinforces its “commitment to accelerating the transition to a circular economy by working with the Foundation’s leading network of businesses, policymakers, academia, innovators, and thought leaders worldwide”.
In line with its 2030 Sustainability & Responsibility roadmap ‘Good Times from a Good Place’, Pernod Ricard sets strong targets that have seen great progress in recent months. Hence, surely a great evolvement for the Group and its brands as key investors have embraced the ESG agenda and see it as good business sense.
Vanessa Wright, Chief Sustainability Officer of Pernod Ricard, expressed the company’s commitment to reach a Net Zero trajectory by 2050. “True to our vision ‘Créateurs de Convivialité’, we believe in working with others to strengthen what we do collectively. That’s why we are delighted to be partners of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and we look forward to building strong collaborations with its network of experts to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy,” said Wright.
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Sustainable Packaging
By 2025, the Group intends to ensure 100 per cent of its packaging and POS is recyclable, reusable or compostable. Driving innovation throughout the company, Pernod Ricard has developed Global Sustainable Packaging and POS Guidelines for its 70 affiliates — specifying materials that cannot be used and how to replace them.
The last year proved to be of great steps and growth for Pernod Ricard as it successfully removed all single-use plastic from all promotional products, and was four years ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, its iconic brands like Beefeater and Ballantine’s eliminated plastic from the caps and/or labels of bottles.
Piloting Circular Ways
Also, the Group is working to reduce and eventually eliminate waste and carbon emissions by piloting five new circular ways of distributing wine and spirits by 2030.
Last month, in a collective partnership with ecoSPIRITS, Pernod Ricard Asia joined a closed-loop distribution pilot aimed at reducing waste and carbon emissions in Singapore and Hong Kong bars. Brands like Absolut, Beefeater and Havana Club are now shipped in bulk and delivered to bars in 4.5-litre glass containers namely ecoTOTES. Once these containers are empty, they will be sent back to the ecoPLANT to be refilled, and the cycle repeats.
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