The Coca-Cola Company and its global bottling partners have announced that they are on track to meet their objectives in relation to water replenishment by the end of this year – five years earlier than first anticipated.
The Coca-Cola system replenished an estimated 94% of its 2014 sales volume as it worked towards becoming the first food and beverage company to replenish all the water that it uses, as set out by its 2020 Water Replenishment Goal.
Since 2004, Coca-Cola has replenished an estimated 153.6bn litres of water back to communities and nature worldwide through 209 community water projects in 61 countries; it returned approximately 126.7bn litres of water that it used in its manufacturing processes during 2014 through treated wastewater, and is edging ever closer to becoming completely water neutral.
Coca-Cola chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent said: “There is no resource more precious to human life and the health of our global ecosystems and economies than water. As a consumer of water, the Coca-Cola system has a special responsibility to protect this shared resource. This is why we set an aspirational goal of being water neutral by 2020. While we have made significant progress toward making that goal a reality, we are more intent than ever to give back the equivalent of all the water that we use to communities and nature. And we will continue to do so after we meet the 100% goal.”
As part of the effort, Coca-Cola has partnered with US-based charity The Nature Conservancy (TNC), which the soft drinks giant said was “instrumental” in designing a methodology to quantify Coca-Cola’s water replenishment work.
TNC president and CEO Mark Tercek said: “More and more companies now recognise that factoring nature into their decision-making is a smart business strategy. Coca-Cola’s commitment to water underscores that investing in nature can produce very positive returns for businesses and local communities. TNC is proud of its collaboration with Coca-Cola and congratulates the company and its bottling partners on a very significant achievement.”
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