The Church of England could threaten to pull its investments from supermarkets which fail to meet minimum standards on the sale of alcohol as part of a new "carrot-and-stick" policy aimed at cracking down on binge drinking.
New tests of corporate responsibility are to be introduced by the Church of England to judge whether it will invest in companies with more than 5% of turnover from the production and sale of alcohol.
Under previous policy, companies with more than 25% of turnover from alcohol were automatically banned from investment by the Church of England but those with less, including the big supermarkets, were not scrutinised. The new policy will also open up the possibility that drinks producers, including small brewers, could become eligible for investment from the Church of England for the first time.
The policy drawn up by the Church of England Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) acknowledges "improving standards" of corporate responsibility in the alcohol production and retail sector.
But it said concerns still remained, including a lack of labelling fully complying with official advice or good practice, "irresponsible products" such as cheap beers and ciders with high alcohol content and "irresponsible" pricing and promotions.
The Church Commissioners, the Church of England Pensions Board, and the CBF Church of England Funds hold assets of more than £8 billion, with £86 million in shares in the major UK supermarkets.
A Church spokesman said the minimum standards would test whether companies were engaging "sensibly" with the Government to mitigate the harmful effects of alcohol through measures such as labelling, marketing and pricing and promotion. He said he hoped the "pioneering" policy would pave the way for other ethical investors to raise responsible corporate practice on alcohol.
An advisory group of experts from health, youth and law and order charities will help implement the policy with the first recommendations on which companies to exclude from investment made in 2013.
A spokesman for Sainsbury's said: "We were pleased to be part of the public health responsibility deal from the outset and to have signed up to all the collective alcohol pledges. We recognise our duty to be a responsible retailer of alcohol."
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A Morrisons spokesman said: "We understand that the retailing of alcohol comes with responsibilities. Morrisons supports the ban on the sale of alcohol at a price below the rate of duty and VAT and we have signed all the relevant alcohol pledges in the Government's responsibility deal."
