Excessive consumption

When the Beer Pledge was launched, it contained a sub-pillar on initiatives and campaigns to tackle and reduce binge drinking The Brewers of Europe finalised a toolkit on anti-binge drinking activities in the first year of the Beer Pledge reporting cycle. With the adoption of the CNAPA’s Action Plan on Youth Drinking and on Heavy Episodic Drinking, it is clear that any successful activities to combat binge drinking will also help contribute to the implementation of this Action Plan.

However, contrary to the three other sub-pillars of the Beer Pledge pillar on addressing alcohol misuse, this sub-pillar was open to more interpretation, both in terms of the definition of binge drinking, which varies, and the objectives in addressing it. With regard to pregnancy, driving and underage, the overall message is one of “don’t drink”, whilst addressing binge drinking is a broader question of volumes, speed, intentions, outcomes, alcoholic strength etc.

For this reporting cycle, we have thus expanded the chapter towards all instances of consuming excessively, including binge drinking (in particular where this relates to young adults) but also occasions and locations when people should drink less or not at all (excluding pregnancy, driving and underage). We have also included workplace initiatives, both with the workplace as opportunity for conveying messages but also in view of company alcohol policies. Finally, brewers have also been supporting some activities to support people with addiction problems, such as initiatives towards people suffering from alcoholism.

Here below are just some of the activities carried out by brewing companies and associations over the reporting period to address the issue of excessive and inappropriate consumption and to promote responsible and moderate beer consumption.