Refrigeration Equipment

Our business system owns more than nine million coolers and vending machines. These vending machines and coolers are by far the largest estimated contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within our systemwide operations. They produce three times the estimated emissions of our manufacturing facilities and more than five times the emissions from our fleet. As a result, our sustainable refrigeration program is the cornerstone of our energy and climate protection efforts.

We have completed the transition to HFC-free insulation for new purchases of sales and marketing refrigeration equipment. This new equipment will generate 75% fewer direct greenhouse gas emissions as compared with traditional sales equipment.

We also have made significant research and development investments to identify a cost-effective commercial solution to refrigerant gas. We believe carbon dioxide technology will help our system dramatically reduce direct greenhouse gas emissions from refrigerants. Carbon dioxide, a natural refrigerant that is HFC-free, has less direct climate impact and improves energy efficiency under typical operating conditions.

In 2007, we continued to make progress on reducing the energy consumption of our system's refrigeration equipment. We continue to increase the penetration of our proprietary Energy Management System, EMS-55, which can reduce energy consumption up to 35 percent. By the end of 2007, over 500,000 of these EMS-55 units were shipped into the Coca-Cola system. The combined annual energy reduction is estimated to be more than 650 million kilowatt-hours, with a corresponding greenhouse gas reduction of over 350,000 metric tons.

Our work on sustainable refrigeration is more than an environmental program. Refrigerants, Naturally!, the multi-stakeholder initiative we launched in 2004 to encourage environmentally friendly cooling technologies, enables our engagement with nongovernmental organizations and other businesses.