FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT: Sophia Wilson, swilson@asyousow.org, (341) 600-1832

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA—JULY 31, 2024—Constellation Brands released vote totals showing that approximately 25% of shareholders voted in support of stronger emissions goals and a transition towards a circular economy for packaging, two primary and urgent concerns for shareholders and the company.  

Constellation Brands acknowledges that climate change is a present and growing risk to its supply chain, noting that in 2021, inventory levels for its beer and wine and spirits segments were “negatively impacted by climate-related events.” Constellation Brands’ Scope 1 and 2 emissions goals are not aligned with achieving a 1.5°C future, and the company has no existing Scope 3 goal, which accounts for over 95% of its emissions.

“You can’t make beer, wine, and spirits without water and productive agriculture, two things already under severe strain from climate change,” said Danielle Fugere, President and Chief Counsel at As You Sow. “A full quarter of Constellation Brands’ shareholders supported this proposal asking the Company to address climate emissions across its supply chain and level up to peers like Molson Coors, Heineken, and Carlsberg, which have 1.5°C-aligned reduction targets for their full value chain emissions.”

Constellation Brands can lower its Scope 3 emissions by taking action to adopt circular packaging practices, an issue called out in a packaging-focused proposal filed by Warren Wilson College and represented by As You Sow. Supporting extended producer responsibility laws (EPR), like peers Diageo, Heineken, Molson Coors and at least 26 other major companies, would keep packaging out of the environment. The Recycling Partnership has found that spending $17 billion to modernize and expand recycling infrastructure would save the equivalent of 710 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over ten years, the equivalent of 1,825 coal power plants.

“Every bottle and can needs to be recycled at its end of life, but if facilities don’t exist to recycle those bottles and cans, they become literal and financial waste,” said Kelly McBee, Circular Economy Manager at As You Sow. “Investing in packaging’s end of life means extending brand responsibility from start to finish; this strong show of support from shareholders bolsters the case for Constellation’s management to make the investments necessary to move towards circularity.”

Constellation Brands also ranked as the lowest-scoring Alcoholic Beverage company in As You Sow’s 2024 Plastic Promises Scorecard having no goals or ambitions to improve the circularity of its packaging.

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As You Sow is the nation’s leading shareholder representative, with a 30-year track record promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility and advancing values-aligned investing. Its issue areas include climate change, ocean plastics, toxins in the food system, biodiversity, racial justice, and workplace diversity. Click here to view As You Sow’s shareholder resolution tracker.