We want to change the way people drink – for the better. This is why we promote responsible drinking and invest in education programmes to discourage the harmful use of alcohol. It is great to see the progress we've made as an industry in reducing alcohol related harm in the past decade, and this will continue to be a priority as we look ahead and build on this progress.
Yesterday our CEOs put their weight behind our new responsibility strategy. We met in the heart of the champagne region, a place whose very architecture, economy and landscapes have been shaped by this industry for centuries. The context was last month’s landmark WHO report, which shows that deaths linked to alcohol fell by over 20% around the world from 2010 to 2019. While there is much more to do, this represents significant progress in the UN’s strategy to tackle the harmful use of alcohol. We agreed our new priorities for building on this success through the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD), including how we can further harness the resources of IARD and its members to support the UN 2030 goals. A huge thanks to Philippe Schaus for hosting us so magnificently at Moët Hennessy, and to chairman Alexandre Ricard and IARD’s CEOs for their support.