Diageo has invested £450k in three innovations, each intended to lessen and monitor the impact of water and climate crises in Africa.
The three challenges are focused on water, carbon and biodiversity impacts, and are part of Diageo’s Sustainable Solutions to help the company reach its sustainability goals by 2030.
Smallholder farmers are highly vulnerable to weather changes and water scarcity arising from climate change. Diageo is building resilience in its communities and monitoring its farming programmes to preserve natural resources as part of its global agenda.
Kirstie McIntyre, global sustainability director at Diageo, said: “Our next Sustainable Solutions round will create action for innovators around the world to help save lives and livelihoods in the countries and communities most at risk”.
The action plan aims to discover and develop innovators and technology that can help to achieve these sustainable goals. Current pilots include the development of a coating to make glass thinner without losing its strength to reduce emissions and the resources needed.
The pilots will be taking place in East Africa and if successful will be rolled out across Diageo’s smallholder farmer network in Cameroon, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Tanzania, Turkey, Seychelles, South Africa and Uganda.
“Globally, we have unpredictable weather with increasing droughts and floods and a gap in our agriculture monitoring capabilities. Soil moisture monitoring must be improved so we can look at where we can improve soil water holding capacity, supporting our farmers to maintain a steady farming cycle and income,” added John Cant, head of Diageo Sustainable Solutions.
