The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) offers an Auto-Sobriety Training Programme to Prevent Drink-Driving, a virtual reality (VR) training initiative designed to raise awareness of alcohol impairment and improve responses to drink driving. The programme is supported by Pernod Ricard, one of the world’s largest alcohol producers and distributors.
The training programme forms part of UNITAR’s broader road safety portfolio and aims to demonstrate the effects of alcohol impairment on driving through immersive simulation technologies. According to UNITAR, the programme has been delivered in several middle-income countries and is intended to support national efforts to reduce alcohol-related crashes and improve road safety capacity.
While initiatives to prevent drink driving are widely supported across the road safety sector, the involvement of major alcohol corporations in public safety programmes raises concerns among public health researchers and policy experts about the conflict of interest.
Alcohol industry partnerships with the United Nations
A recent analysis of partnerships between the United Nations system and transnational alcohol corporations found extensive relationships between UN entities and some of the world’s largest alcohol producers. These include formal partnerships, programme sponsorship, event sponsorship, and financial contributions across multiple UN agencies.
The study identified UNITAR partnerships with alcohol companies including Pernod Ricard, Diageo and AB InBev, which focus on training programmes addressing drink driving and road safety.
Researchers note that such partnerships frequently align with the alcohol industry’s corporate social responsibility strategies, including drink-driving prevention campaigns and educational initiatives. These activities may enhance corporate reputation and provide access to policymakers by appearing to support public health objectives, but actually promote less effective responses to drink driving, at the expense of more effective ones which would result in reduced sale and consumption of alcohol, as well as reduced road trauma associated with alcohol.
The authors argue that the UN system currently lacks sufficient safeguards against alcohol industry influence, and that these relationships may undermine global health objectives. Alcohol remains a leading cause of preventable harm worldwide, yet alcohol corporations derive significant profits from heavy consumption.
Concerns about conflicts of interest
Public health researchers have long highlighted the inherent tension between the goals of the alcohol industry and the objectives of public health. Commercial alcohol companies seek to increase sales and consumption, while public health efforts aim to reduce alcohol-related harm, including alcohol-related crashes and other forms of road trauma.
Research examining alcohol industry involvement in health initiatives argues that collaborations between public health organisations and alcohol companies can create conflicts of interest that may influence policy and messaging.
For example, industry-supported programmes often promote messages such as “responsible drinking” or designated driver campaigns, which emphasise individual behaviour rather than evidence-based policies such as taxation, advertising restrictions, or limits on alcohol availability. There is limited evidence that messages targeting individual behaviour significantly reduce alcohol-related harm.
More broadly, researchers examining the commercial determinants of health describe how alcohol industry organisations can shape public perceptions and policy debates through lobbying, corporate social responsibility campaigns and health messaging that shifts responsibility onto individuals rather than industry practices.
Implications for road safety
Alcohol impairment remains a major contributor to road trauma globally, and preventing drink driving is a core element of road safety strategies. Evidence-based approaches include enforcement of drink-driving laws, random breath testing, reduced blood alcohol concentration limits, and broader alcohol policy measures that reduce harmful consumption.
The research examining UN partnerships concludes that stronger safeguards may be required to protect the independence of global health and safety institutions, including clearer rules around engagement with alcohol corporations and improved transparency regarding funding and partnerships.
What this means for the road safety community
For road safety professionals, the UNITAR programme presents both an opportunity and a dilemma. Training initiatives aimed at reducing drink driving can support important safety outcomes. At the same time, partnerships between global institutions and alcohol corporations raise legitimate questions about conflicts of interest, influence on policy discussions, and the broader framing of alcohol-related road trauma.
As the global road safety community continues to pursue the goal of reducing deaths and serious injuries on the road, these debates highlight the importance of maintaining transparency, evidence-based policy approaches, and independence from commercial interests whose business models may conflict with public health objectives.
Sources and further reading
- Leung JYY & Casswell S. United Nations partnerships with the alcohol industry (2026).
- Petticrew M et al. Alcohol industry conflicts of interest: The pollution pathway from misinformation to alcohol harms (2025).
- Piazza-Gardner A & Barry AE. A Drink Best Not Served: Conflicts of Interests When the Alcohol Industry Seeks To Inform Public Health Practice and Policy (2011).