Constellation Brands Publishes ESG Impact Report, Advancing a Future Worth Reaching For

Constellation Brands’ 2022 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Impact Report highlights notable progress made in its key ESG focus areas: serving as good stewards of the environment; enhancing social equity within its industry and communities; and promoting responsible beverage alcohol consumption.

VICTOR, N.Y., Oct. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B), a leading beverage alcohol company, published today its inaugural ESG Impact Report – an evolution of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility reports – highlighting established commitments and targets to positively impact the planet and its people, and progress made toward achieving them.

To enable Constellation to better meet stakeholder expectations regarding information provided on these important topics, and to better reflect the company’s ongoing efforts to address pressing environmental and societal needs that are important to its communities, consumers, and employees, this ESG Impact Report has been prepared with reference to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board alcoholic beverages standard. The report also considers the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures in developing and disclosing Constellation’s approach to managing climate risk and opportunity and references the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals.

“While Constellation has a rich history demonstrating its commitment to doing well by doing good, we believe the social, economic, and environmental challenges of today’s world require greater accountability, which is why we’ve bolstered our ESG commitments as a core tenet of our long-term business strategy,” said Bill Newlands, Constellation Brands’ President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are extremely proud of the progress we’ve made to help our communities and planet thrive, and we are excited to share it with our stakeholders. I sincerely thank our Constellation team members, as well as our non-profit, industry, and community partners, and broader stakeholders, for their continued support and collaboration. Together, we are striving to create a future that is truly Worth Reaching For.”

Constellation’s ESG ambitions are grounded in the following three focus areas:

• Serving as good stewards of the environment – modeling water stewardship for the beverage alcohol industry; and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through energy conservation and renewable energy initiatives.
• Enhancing social equity within the industry and local communities – championing the professional development and advancement of women in the beverage alcohol industry and local communities; enhancing economic development and prosperity in disadvantaged communities; and championing an inclusive culture characterized by diversity in background and thought, which reflects the consumers and communities that the company serves.
• Promoting responsible beverage alcohol consumption – ensuring the responsible promotion and marketing of the company’s products.
  

This report details notable progress that Constellation has made in these focus areas, including:

• Established and began implementing a three-year strategy and operating plans to restore approximately 1.1 billion gallons of water withdrawals from local watersheds, while improving accessibility and the quality of water for communities where the company operates between fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2025.
• Established and began implementing a three-year strategy and operating plans to reduce Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions by 15% by fiscal year 2025 (from a fiscal year 2020 baseline).
• Invested approximately $75 million in female-led or founded businesses through August 2022.
• Helped more than 3,500 women receive services and training to help advance their careers in partnership with Dress for Success in calendar year 2021.
• Committed to invest approximately $15 million in minority-owned businesses through August 2022.
• Helped more than 4,700 Hispanic families strengthen their financial security through financial empowerment and housing counseling programs in calendar year 2021 through support of UnidosUS.
• Increased female representation and overall ethnic diversity among Constellation’s U.S. salaried employee population to 43% and 22%, respectively, in fiscal year 2022 progressing toward the established goals of 50% and 30%, respectively, by fiscal year 2026.
• Supported the efforts of Responsibility.org to empower adults to make a lifetime of responsible alcohol choices as part of a balanced lifestyle and help eliminate drunk driving.

“As part of our commitment to environmental stewardship and our communities, we’ve embedded our ESG strategy into our beer, wine and spirits business operations across the globe and we’ve established ESG oversight at the highest levels of the organization,” said Mike McGrew, Constellation Brands’ Executive Vice President and Chief Communications, CSR, and Diversity Officer. “By establishing ESG as a strategic business operating imperative, we can better meet stakeholder expectations, reflect our values, and more directly help the communities that sustain our business to thrive in the process.”

To read the full 2022 ESG Impact Report, click here. To watch a brief video highlighting Constellation’s ESG strategy click here.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The word “expect” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. These statements may relate to our business and ESG strategies, future prospects, plans, events, performance, targets, goals, or objectives, future operations, future environmental, financial, or social metrics, or expected actions of third parties. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. No assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur.

The forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and should not be construed in any manner as a guarantee that such results will in fact occur. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release and Constellation Brands does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

In addition to risks and uncertainties associated with ordinary business operations, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are subject to the risk, uncertainty, and possible variance from our current expectations regarding: future global economic conditions; market conditions; regulatory conditions; unanticipated environmental liabilities and costs; changes to governmental rules and regulations; the actions of competitors; consumer expectations and preferences; and other factors and uncertainties disclosed from time-to-time in Constellation Brands’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 28, 2022, its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended August 31, 2022, and its Registration Statement on Form S-4, as amended from time to time, which could cause actual future performance to differ from current expectations.

ABOUT CONSTELLATION BRANDS

At Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B), our mission is to build brands that people love because we believe sharing a toast, unwinding after a day, celebrating milestones, and helping people connect, are Worth Reaching For. It’s worth our dedication, hard work, and the bold calculated risks we take to deliver more for our consumers, trade partners, shareholders, and communities in which we live and work. It’s what has made us one of the fastest-growing large CPG companies in the U.S. at retail, and it drives our pursuit to deliver what’s next.

Today, we are a leading international producer and marketer of beer, wine, and spirits with operations in the U.S., Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy. Every day, people reach for our high-end, iconic imported beer brands such as Corona Extra, Corona Light, Corona Premier, Modelo Especial, Modelo Negra, and Pacifico, our fine wine and craft spirits brands, including The Prisoner Wine Company, Robert Mondavi Winery, Casa Noble Tequila, and High West Whiskey, and our premium wine brands such as Meiomi, and Kim Crawford.

But we won’t stop here. Our visionary leadership team and passionate employees from barrel room to boardroom are reaching for the next level, to explore the boundaries of the beverage alcohol industry and beyond. Join us in discovering what’s Worth Reaching For.

To learn more, visit www.cbrands.com and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

A downloadable PDF copy of this news release can be found here. http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/8eb63e46-5dbe-40bb-8783-3ba8e7a6a870

Released October 13, 2022