News Release
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY PLEDGES TO REPLACE THE WATER
IT USES IN ITS BEVERAGES AND THEIR PRODUCTION
Multi-year Partnership Announced with WWF to Conserve and Protect
Freshwater Resources
BEIJING, June 5, 2007 -
The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) today pledged to lead its
global beverage operations, including those of its franchise bottlers,
to replace the water it uses in its beverages and their production.
The Company will focus its actions in three core areas: 1) reducing
the water used to produce its beverages, 2) recycling water used for
beverage manufacturing processes, and 3) replenishing water in communities
and nature.
The pledge was announced at the annual meeting of WWF in Beijing,
where the Company launched a multi-year partnership with WWF to conserve
and protect freshwater resources. This $20 million (US) commitment
from The Coca-Cola Company to WWF will be used to help conserve seven
of the world's most important freshwater river basins, support more
efficient water management in its operations and global supply chain,
and reduce the Company's carbon footprint.
"We are focusing on water because this is where The Coca-Cola
Company can have a real and positive impact," said E. Neville
Isdell, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. "Our goal
is to replace every drop of water we use in our beverages and their
production. For us that means reducing the amount of water used to
produce our beverages, recycling water used for manufacturing processes
so it can be returned safely to the environment, and replenishing
water in communities and nature through locally relevant projects."
"The Coca-Cola Company is answering the call to help solve the
global freshwater crisis through this bold partnership," said
James Leape, Director General of WWF International. "The Company
is stepping into new and uncharted territory, and we look forward
to working together to meet the bold commitments they have made to
water stewardship."
In 2006, The Coca-Cola Company and its franchised bottlers used approximately
290 billion liters of water for beverage production. Of that amount,
approximately 114 billion liters were contained in the Company's broad
portfolio of beverages sold in markets around the world, and another
176 billion liters were used in beverage manufacturing processes such
as rinsing, cleaning, heating and cooling.
The Company's pledge to replace the water it uses has three core
components: reduce, recycle and replenish.
| Reduce: |
The Coca-Cola Company will set specific
water efficiency targets for global operations by 2008 to be the
most efficient user of water within peer companies. These
targets will build on improvements already made by The Coca-Cola
Company and its bottlers in water-use efficiency over the past
five years, a period where total water use has decreased by 5.6%
while sales volume has increased by 14.6%. In that same period,
water efficiency improved 18.6%.
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| Recycle: |
The Company will align its entire
global system in returning all water that it uses for manufacturing
processes to the environment at a level that supports aquatic
life and agriculture by the end of 2010. While water is treated
currently to comply with local regulations and standards, the
Company has wastewater treatment standards that are more stringent
than applicable standards in many parts of the
world. Nearly 85 percent of Company and independent bottling operations
are aligned with the Company's higher standards, and the Company
pledged to align 100% of its entire global system.
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| Replenish: |
The Company will expand support
of healthy watersheds and sustainable communities to balance the
water used in its finished beverages. Engagement will include
a wide range of locally relevant initiatives, such as watershed
protection, community water access, rain water harvesting, reforestation
and agricultural water use efficiency. Numerous projects are already
underway: the Company has community and watershed programs in
40 countries focused on education and awareness, productive water
use, watershed management and water supply, sanitation and hygiene;
the Company has some 300 rainwater harvesting structures throughout
its global operations; and, last week, in Brazil, The Coca-Cola
Company and FEMSA announced a partnership with SOS Mata Atlantica
to reforest over three million trees on 3,000 hectares of Atlantic
rainforest. Unlike carbon, the concept of balancing water use
is not well defined, and WWF, The Coca-Cola Company and its bottling
partners will work together to measure the impact of these activities
on water availability. |
In recognition of the impacts on water resources from the "embedded"
water in agricultural commodities and packaging, WWF and TCCC will
work together to encourage efficient water use in the Company's supply
chain, beginning with sugar cane. Work with WWF's Better Sugar Initiative
has already demonstrated the Company's commitment to steward its supply
chain's use of water. Measurable targets will be set for improvements
of water use, in time, with its agricultural partners.
"Society is just beginning to understand the world's water challenges,"
continued Isdell, "No single company or organization has all
of the answers or holds ultimate responsibility, but we all can do
our part to conserve and protect water resources. Our Company will
need time and cooperation from our bottlers, our suppliers and our
conservation partners to accomplish the goal of replacing the water
we use. We will be open about our progress and engage others to better
understand what it takes."
WWF Partnership
TCCC and WWF have been working together for several years on a number
of pilot projects to conserve water, address water efficiency in the
Company's operations and protect species. The partners are expanding
their work together to achieve meaningful and large-scale results.
The partnership will focus on measurably conserving seven of the
world's most critical freshwater river basins: China's Yangtze; Southeast
Asia's Mekong; the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo of Southwest United States
and Mexico; the rivers and streams of the Southeastern United States;
the water basins of the Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef; the East Africa
basin of Lake Malawi; and Europe's Danube River. These river basins
(also know as watersheds) span more than 20 countries in North America,
Europe, Africa and Asia and were chosen because of their biological
distinctiveness, opportunity for meaningful conservation gains, and
potential to advance issues of resource protection.
"The water crisis is as important as climate change," said
Carter Roberts, President of WWF-US. "Thousands of people die
each day from polluted water. Freshwater species are more at risk
for extinction. These conditions will only get worse with climate
change. The Coca-Cola Company's
commitment to water neutrality is a first. We need more companies
to step up and make similar commitments if we are going to reverse
these current trends."
With WWF as a partner, The Coca-Cola Company also will work to further
improve upon efficient use of water in its manufacturing system's
operations. Teams of experts from The Coca-Cola Company and WWF will
collaborate on innovative ways to help Coca-Cola be even more efficient
in its use of water.
Also recognizing the impacts of climate change on the water cycle,
WWF and TCCC will work together on climate protection. WWF and TCCC
experts have already led a series of energy and climate protection
workshops for many of the Company's bottling partners. Targets will
be set for climate-related emission reductions in the next year.
"Freshwater resources are under growing stress around the world,"
said Jeff Seabright, Vice President, Environment and Water Resources,
The Coca-Cola Company. "This partnership will leverage the best
of both organizations to make a real and positive impact on one of
the greatest sustainability challenges we face."
To learn more about the partnership, please visit www.thecoca-colacompany.com
or www.worldwildlife.org.
The Coca-Cola Company's environmental protection efforts - 1) global
water stewardship, 2) package design, recovery and reuse, and 3) energy
and climate protection - address the areas that are most important
to its business and are where the Company can make the greatest impact.
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About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage
company. Along with Coca-Cola®, recognized as the
world's most valuable brand, the Company markets four of the world's
top five nonalcoholic sparkling beverage brands, including Diet Coke®,
Fanta® and Sprite®, and a wide range of other beverages, including
diet and light beverages, waters, juices and juice drinks, teas, coffees,
energy and sports drinks. Through the world's largest beverage distribution
system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages
at a rate exceeding 1.4 billion servings each day. For more information
about The Coca-Cola Company, please visit our website
at www.thecoca-colacompany.com.
About WWF
For more than 45 years, WWF has been protecting the future of nature.
As a global conservation organization, WWF is one of the world's largest
working in 100 countries. It is supported by 1.2 million members in
the United States and close to 5 million around the world. WWF's unique
way of working combines global reach with a foundation in science,
involves action at every level from local to global, and ensures the
delivery of innovative solutions that meet the needs of both people
and nature. For more information, visit www.worldwildlife.org.
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