A recent report showcases extensive efforts in New Zealand and around the globe to prevent harmful drinking. The report is titled Global Standards in Action [1] (GSA).

The International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) ‘Global Standards Coalition’ (GSC) put  the report together which includes innovative safeguards and digital tools to prevent underage drinking and ensure responsible marketing. The report also details proactive public and private sector collaboration aimed at stopping harmful drinking.

This has been bolstered by pioneering industry initiatives by IARD members and over 100 organisations [2] who have joined the IARD GSC, to continue raising global responsibility standards.  This builds on the success of the GSC launch in 2023.

The GSC [3] aims to create a positive movement that drives global initiatives focusing on proactive measures to:

  • Further prevent sales to those underage or intoxicated
  • Prevent marketing and advertising to those underage
  • Provide training and guidance that empowers staff to deny sale, service, and delivery of alcohol where necessary
  • Respect the choices of those who choose not to drink alcohol
  • Elevate industry standards to reduce the harmful use of alcohol

The report showcases the extensive global efforts of leaders across the beer, wine, and spirits sectors – such as developing innovative safeguards and digital-first tools to prevent underage drinking and ensure responsible marketing. The report also details proactive public and private sector collaboration, aimed to stop harmful drinking through a whole-of-society approach.

In NZ members of the GSC include IARD members Asahi, DB Breweries, Lion NZ, Pernod Ricard, NZ Alcohol Beverages Council, Spirits NZ and the Brewers Association.  We also have the following organisations who have joined the GSC including Hospitality NZ and the Association of NZ Advertisers.

The GSA report also highlights key cross-sector collaborations.  One of these is IARD’s ongoing partnership with major digital platforms [4], including Google, Meta, Pinterest, Snap Inc., TikTok, and X, which continue to strengthen age-assurance systems. Platforms like Google, Reddit, Inc., and Snap now offer users the ability to opt out of alcohol ads entirely.

In 2024, IARD members achieved 98.2% compliance with the Digital Guiding Principles [5], exceeding the 95% target. Free training tools developed with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) are now supporting producers of all sizes to meet these standards.

“The Global Standards Coalition is the first global alliance of its kind.  It enables private sector organisations to share thinking, insights, and good practices to further reduce harmful drinking,” says NZABC executive director Virginia Nicholls.

The GSC responds to the UN Political Declaration on noncommunicable diseases, which calls for  steps to eliminate the sale, marketing and advertising of alcohol to minors.

In NZ we are drinking differently, the annual NZ Health survey [6] provides information on New Zealander’s health and wellbeing shows that 83.4% of NZ adults (five out of six of us) are drinking beer, wine and spirits responsibly. This is an increase of 4.7 percentage points over the past four years (78.7% 2019/20).

Hazardous drinking [7] or harmful alcohol consumption among adults over the past four years has declined to 16.6% (21.3% 2019/20), however this is still too high.

Fewer under-18s are drinking alcohol and those who do are drinking less hazardously.

The Stats NZ alcohol consumption per capita has also declined by 32% since 1984[i].

About the New Zealand Alcohol Beverages Council

The NZ Alcohol Beverages Council is a pan-industry group that comments publicly on matters relating to the beer, wine, spirits and beverages industry. It focuses on supporting responsible alcohol consumption and wants to see a fair and balanced debate on alcohol regulation in New Zealand.

About IARD

The International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to reducing harmful drinking and promoting understanding of responsible drinking. We are supported by the leading global beer, wine, and spirits producers, who have come together for a common purpose: to be part of the solution in combating harmful drinking. To advance this shared mission, IARD works and partners with public sector, civil society, and private stakeholders. www.iard.org

IARD has produced free resources to ensure responsible selling, serving and delivery of alcohol.  These complement existing resources or provide guidance where none exist which include:

References:

[1] IARD_Standards-in-Action-report_2025-23June-1.pdf, accessed 13 August 2025.

[2]  This growing global alliance includes leading retailers, e-commerce platforms, marketing and advertising agencies, sports bodies, travel retail and hospitality sectors, self-regulatory organizations, digital platforms, have joined forces to further accelerate reductions in harmful use of alcohol, as members of IARD’s groundbreaking Global Standards Coalition.

[3] Members of IARD’s GSC stand for:

  • We firmly believe beer, wine, and spirits are adult drinks and oppose the marketing and sale of alcohol beverages to those below the legal purchase age.
  • We put in place policies and practices to prevent marketing or sale of alcohol beverages to those below the legal purchase age.
  • We equip our employees and partners with training and information to promote responsible business practices.
  • We support and recognize those adults who choose not to drink alcohol.
  • We work together to enhance safeguards and further raise standards to address the harmful use of alcohol.

[4] Digital-Guiding-Principles_DGP_2023_18Dec-2.pdf (iard.org), 2023, accessed 14 June 2024

[5] In 2024 this partnership expanded introducing new commitments seeking to expand online safeguards and prevent the advertising of alcoholic products to underage users.  This has included the introduction of transparency reports from these tech companies detailing their platform-specific safeguards.

[6] New Zealand Health Survey | Ministry of Health NZ, accessed 19 November 2024

[7] Hazardous drinking among the total population.  Hazardous drinking refers to a score of 8 or more on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), which suggests hazardous or harmful alcohol consumption.

[8] Stats NZ: Total NZ population 18 years and over alcohol available for consumption (per head of population).  Year end 1984 (11.908 litres), year end June 2025 (8.006 litres): View table – Infoshare – Statistics New Zealand accessed 25 August 2025.