COP30, held in Belém, Brazil, paved the way for organizations from various industries to show that the climate agenda requires immediate and integrated action. The results of the meetings, translated into clearer commitments, more ambitious goals, and concrete advances in negotiations, reinforced the urgency of connecting water, climate, nature, and people, with a direct impact on corporate strategy. In this context, companies such as Diageo have committed to maintaining a constant focus on sustainability, expanding initiatives to strengthen water resilience, accelerate climate transition, and support communities in strategic regions.
Assessing the company’s participation in COP30, Kristin Hughes, SVP and Global Head of Sustainability at Diageo, highlights three key learnings: “Water security has become inseparable from climate resilience.” Droughts, floods, and water stress are already structural risks, requiring continuous investment in efficiency, watershed management, and supply chain resilience, in line with the energy transition.
Diageo is moving forward with concrete measures by expanding its collective action projects from 12 to 20 initiatives in priority watersheds, also involving suppliers in critical areas. The company is accelerating innovations such as Everpour, which reduces the amount of disposable bottles and emissions. In Latin America, initiatives in Mexico and Brazil stand out for combining environmental efficiency, circularity, and agricultural regeneration, reinforcing the role of the region in the company’s global agenda.
Hughes also emphasizes the role of collaboration: “The model in which each company tries to solve its challenges in isolation no longer works.” Projects such as Charco Bendito in Mexico show how collective actions amplify impact. In Brazil, programs such as “Glass is Good” and the circularity of Ypióca bottles have recycled the equivalent of 570 million units since 2019, reducing waste and strengthening a circular economy.
The social aspect also remains a central pillar of Diageo, especially with “Learning for Life”, program which has trained more than 34,000 people in Brazil and had a special edition in Belém before COP30, training more than 200 people for the hospitality industry. For the company, sustainability only happens when climate, nature, and people work together. With this commitment, Diageo continues to move forward with renewed goals and a long-term vision, as Kristin Hughes explains below.
1) What were the main lessons learned from COP30 for Diageo, especially regarding water and climate resilience?
COP30 reinforced three critical lessons for the business sector: first, water security has become inseparable from climate resilience. It became very clear that droughts, floods, and water stress are not occasional events anymore – today, they are structural risks. Companies need to invest in more efficient water use, watershed management, and long-term supply chain resilience, with the same rigor dedicated to the energy transition.
Second, collaboration is becoming a competitive advantage. The traditional model, in which each company tries to solve its sustainability challenges in isolation, no longer works. We need cross-sector partnerships – with governments, local communities, and other companies – to address shared challenges: common watersheds, common infrastructure, and common climate vulnerabilities.
During the COP30 negotiations in Belém, we were pleased to engage with some of our long-standing partners, such as WaterAid and The Nature Conservancy, as well as corporate partners such as PepsiCo and Google, and governments, including representatives from Brazil, the United Kingdom, and Mexico, where we have key operations.
Third, accountability and transparency are advancing rapidly. Investors and regulators expect clear, science-based targets for water use, impacts on nature, and climate resilience, not just carbon.
2) How do the COP30 discussions connect to Diageo’s Spirit of Progress strategy and ESG priorities?
The discussions at COP30 were very much in line with our business priorities. In addition to sharing our experience and learnings on water and carbon, we also established new partnerships, initiated new conversations, and gained a better understanding of the challenges and priorities common to different sectors. For us, collective action is essential to move forward. We will not achieve our goals by acting alone; we need to work together with public and private partners.
Although water and carbon dominated much of the conversations we took part in at COP30, it was inspiring to see our “Learning for Life” students working at the event, putting into practice the skills we taught them, not only in Belém but also in São Paulo the week before, when many companies were already engaged in the climate debate. “Learning for Life” is our global hospitality training program for people facing barriers to education and employment. In preparation for COP30, we have trained 116 new professionals in Belém in recent months and more than 250 in the last 18 months in Brazil.
3) How does Diageo intend to expand its impact in priority watersheds through collective water stewardship actions?
Our water programs are directly linked to our production units and our climate risk mapping. We are expanding the number of collective action projects around the world from 12 to 20, given the relevance and benefits of this type of initiative. In addition, we are expanding our efforts beyond direct operations: we are engaging suppliers and third-party operators located in areas of water stress to support water replenishment activities.
4) What lessons learned from Diageo’s operations in Brazil and Mexico can be applied globally?
In Brazil, we have exceptional initiatives underway, including significant gains in water efficiency, which allow us to produce Ypióca cachaça with excellent water use performance. We are also investing in robust water replenishment actions with partners in both Brazil and Mexico – initiatives that we intend to replicate in other water-stressed regions where we operate globally. Additionally, in Brazil we have adopted a circular economy model applied to Ypióca bottles. In partnership with key suppliers, we recover and reuse bottles, reducing carbon emissions and decreasing the need to produce new packaging.
5) What paths does Diageo consider most promising to advance in circularity and innovation in packaging?
We are very excited about our proprietary technology, Everpour. It is a keg-style refill system for spirits, in which Smirnoff bottles can be connected directly to the system to be automatically refilled. Each keg has the potential to eliminate the use of at least 500 single-use glass bottles (70 cl). This represents a potential reduction of more than 50% in carbon emissions per liter of Smirnoff. The system also offers operational benefits for bartenders: it reduces bottle changeover time, decreases waste, and optimizes storage space.
6) What is the role of companies in advancing the just transition and climate finance discussed at COP30?
At Diageo, every investment in sustainability must generate environmental benefits, value for customers and consumers, and a return for the business. The transformations in our supply chain must deliver these benefits clearly to justify the investments. We also believe that sustainability is not achieved through isolated projects, but through the consistent and continuous sum of initiatives over time; it is the systemic vision that generates real impact.
