Church will pull funds from irresponsible supermarkets

Published: 30 June, 2011

The Church of England is to tighten up its rules on investment in alcohol producers, and has widened its policy to include supermarkets.

The church, which has assets of more than £8 billion, said it will pull investment from retailers it believes are marketing drinks in an irresponsible way.

Until now, the church has had a blanket ban on any company which makes more than 25% of its profits from alcohol. From 2013, the church's Ethical Investment Advisory Group has advised the church to only invest in companies which derive more than 5% of their turnover from drinks if they meet certain ethical standards.

The EIAG and the investing bodies concluded "it was wrong to bar investment in every producer of alcohol while ignoring the mass retail of low-cost alcohol by supermarkets".

John Reynolds, chair of the EIAG, said: "The EIAG is concerned about corporate complicity in the misuse of alcohol, including through inappropriate pricing and promotions.

"Institutional investors don't talk to the supermarkets about this and our old policy had no teeth because we couldn't divest from a supermarket. We want to use our influence as shareholders to bear down hard on poor corporate practice and to encourage good practice."

Policy implementation will be supported by an advisory group whose members will include experts associated with health, youth, and law and order charities. Labelling, marketing, and pricing and promotions are key areas of concern.

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