Two New Distilleries Mark Important Milestone Towards Sustainable Production for Diageo

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Dec 01, 2010, 09:52 ET

NORWALK, Conn., Dec. 1, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Diageo, the world's leading premium drinks company, opened its doors last week to its new rum distillery in St Croix, US Virgin Islands. The opening represents the latest investment by Diageo in sustainable production and, together with the recent official opening of Roseisle Distillery in Scotland, reflects its broader commitment to year-on-year improved environmental performance across its global business.

The combined facilities represent a $220 million investment by Diageo into the next generation of environmentally sustainable production facilities. The St Croix facility will produce rum for the Captain Morgan brand in the United States in a state-of-the-art distillery and barrel warehouse, setting a new standard for environmentally robust production. The barrel warehouse buildings use natural warehouse lighting and roof ventilation systems to lower energy use and feature rainwater harvesting to support best practice on-site environmental management. By-products from production at the distillery will be biologically degraded to generate gas for use as fuel in the plant, thus creating a renewable energy source for the site that reduces its annual CO(2) emissions by approximately 15,000 tons per year.

Water consumption will be kept to a minimum, as the distillery will capture and recycle over 90% of washwater through a closed loop water system, also preventing any washwater disposal into the Caribbean Sea. The new 20-million-proof-gallon distillery also follows the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification principles, an internationally recognized set of environmental building benchmarks.

David Gosnell, President Global Supply & Procurement, commented:

"There are a number of steps towards environmental sustainability for Diageo - using energy and water more efficiently, switching to resources that are naturally replenished, and finding productive ways to re-use our by-products. The investment in these distilleries represents an important step towards sustainable production for Diageo on a global level.

The goals we've set ourselves at Diageo are ambitious and we recognize that it will be a challenging journey. As a company we are committed to harnessing the latest technologies available to build towards these goals and integrate our high standards of environmental management throughout the business. These new production facilities reflect good progress towards our vision where one day all our brands will be sourced and produced sustainably."

Roseisle, the second of the two major investments, is Diageo's newly unveiled award-winning whisky distillery in Scotland. The first malt distillery of scale to be opened in the country in over 30 years and believed to be Scotland's most sustainable distillery, it uses cutting-edge technology to recycle distillery by-products and generate on-site bio-energy. At full capacity, Roseisle aims to reduce CO(2) emissions by approximately 13,000 tons per year through direct savings on fuel use for steam raising and ultimately aims to achieve near neutral use of fossil fuels and water.

On a global scale, Diageo has set ambitious environmental targets for 2015, aiming to cut carbon emissions at wholly-owned sites by 50%, increase water efficiency by 30%, reduce the pollution associated with washwater by 60% and reduce waste sent to landfill by 100%. Diageo's distilleries, breweries and vineyards are worldwide and the technological innovations are developed locally to meet the needs of each individual site, driven by the goal to become a truly sustainable business.

About Diageo

Diageo is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, beer and wines. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff, J&B, Baileys, Cuervo, Tanqueray and Captain Morgan.

Diageo is a global company, with its products sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the New York Stock Exchange (DEO) and the London Stock Exchange (DGE). For more information about Diageo, its people, brands, and performance, visit us at Diageo.com. For our global resource that promotes responsible drinking through the sharing of best practice tools, information and initiatives, visit DRINKiQ.com.

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Roseisle Opening Press Release

St Croix USVI Opening Press Release

SOURCE Diageo