What is Diageo Hiding?

A board member connected to an international animal-cruelty scandal

Susan Kilsby serves on Diageo’s board but has a history the company would rather keep quiet. In 2025, Unilever broke its global cage-free commitment, which leaves millions of hens in cages. It’s one of the most damning international animal-cruelty scandals (opens in new tab) in the food industry today.

Diageo refuses to part ways with Susan Kilsby.

We’ll share how much Susan Kilsby benefits from these lucrative board assignments on October 29th at HowMuchIsSusanKilsbyPaid.com (opens in new tab).

They took climate and “responsible drinking” out of the boss’s bonus

Diageo spent years telling the public it took sustainability seriously. In 2020 it built environmental and social goals like water efficiency, carbon reduction, positive drinking, and diversity directly into its executives’ long-term bonuses, worth 20% of senior executives’ long-term incentive pay.

In 2026, it quietly deleted them.

In its most recent annual report, Diageo’s long-term incentive plan drops from eight performance measures to just three: earnings per share, cash flow, and return on invested capital. All financial. The remuneration committee’s chair confirmed ESG measures “will no longer be included as separately weighted elements.”

This is textbook greenwashing.

Diageo wants the green halo in the advertising and its website, but in reality it strips out the accountability mechanisms that were supposed to make it mean something. A promise nobody is paid to keep, and nobody is punished for breaking, isn’t a commitment, but rather an empty marketing asset.

Up to £20 million for the boss. The axe for others.

Diageo’s new chief executive, Sir Dave Lewis, could earn up to £20 million for a single year if the company’s turnaround hits its targets. So far this year, “Drastic Dave” cut nearly 2,000 jobs, which is over 6% of its entire workforce, as part of a restructuring drive worth roughly $1.2 billion.

His predecessor didn’t leave empty-handed either: departing CEO Debra Crew collected around $4.9 million for her final year, despite a rocky tenure in which Diageo’s share price fell more than 40%.

Diageo rewards its executives and board members richly while at the same time eliminating thousands of jobs. The cost of Diageo’s corporate greed is job loss for its workers.

Scottish workers are being pushed to strike

In Fife, Scotland workers at Diageo’s Cameronbridge distillery, one of the largest grain distilleries in Europe, are balloting for strike action after the company moved to cut jobs. In September 2026, GMB Scotland members voted 75% in favor of action (on a 73% turnout), with Unite members backing action alongside them.

The unions say Diageo pushed the cuts through without proper consultation. More than 70 roles have been put under review, according to the union. Their industrial officer put it plainly: the company is “treating its workforce with contempt.”

This is the same company that just decided its leaders no longer need climate or social targets to earn their bonuses. Workers suffer from executive ineptitude and greed.