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The Coca-Cola Company, in partnership with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), has created a new set of targets to improve water efficiency and reduce carbon emissions within its system-wide operations, while promoting sustainable agricultural practices and helping to conserve the world's most important freshwater basins, the company stated.

"Our sustainability as a business demands a relentless focus on efficiency in our use of natural resources," said Muhtar Kent, President and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company. "These performance targets are one way we're engaging to improve our management of water and energy."

"In this resource-constrained world, successful businesses will find ways to achieve growth while using fewer resources," said Carter Roberts, President and CEO of WWF-US. "The Coca-Cola Company's commitment to conservation responds to the imperative to solve the global water and climate crisis."

The partnership, announced by WWF and The Coca-Cola Company in 2007 with $20m in funding, has now been extended by two years (through 2012) with the company providing $3.75m in new funding.

The Coca-Cola Company also joined WWF's Climate Savers programme, in which leading corporations from around the world work with WWF to dramatically reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

By 2010, Climate Savers companies will collectively cut carbon emissions by 14 million tons annually – the equivalent to taking more than three million cars off the road each year.

"Water and energy conservation are areas where we can truly make a difference. Last year, we set a goal to return to communities and to nature an amount of water equal to what we use in our beverages and their production. These targets support our work to achieve that goal," said Muhtar Kent.

"The expansion of our partnership with WWF demonstrates our shared dedication to achieving large-scale results, and a grounded understanding that collaboration is key if we are to help address the world's water challenges."