Leading Coca-Cola bottling company, Coca Cola HBC unveiled a range of sustainability goals last week.
The targets, based on the company’s initial 2020 targets made last year cover a range of areas, including water waste, carbon emissions, and energy use.
The bottling company introduced the pledges to better address the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs).
As well as reducing its packaging by 25 per cent per litre of beverage produced, it will also recover for recycling an average of 40 per cent of total packaging.
Its other aims include:
- Use 40 per cent of total energy used from renewable and clean energy sources
- Certify that over 95 per cent of key agricultural ingredients are against the Coca-Cola system’s Sustainable Agricultural Guiding Principles
- An investment of 2 per cent of annual pre-tax profit to communities
- A doubling in the number of employees taking part in volunteering initiatives during work time to 10 per cent of people.
The company shall also source 20 per cent of the total polyethylene terephthalate (PET) it uses from recycled PET or other materials.
Already, Coca-Cola HBC says that it has made significant savings in regards to sustainability, which includes reducing the amount of water it uses by 2.1 billion litres in the past two years.
Additionally, the company has reduced its global carbon footprint by 1.07 million tonnes over the last five years and has invested €8.2 million to support community wellbeing, environmental, and water stewardship.
Dimitris Lois, Coca-Cola HBC’s chief executive officer said:
“The ambitious targets we announce today reflect our commitment to inspire a better future for our people and the communities we serve.
“These are part of our overall strategy that established Coca-Cola HBC as a leader in sustainability among beverage companies, and show that we are determined to grow our business responsibly, profitably and sustainably.”
The announcement was made only weeks after Coca-Cola HBC was named a sustainability leader of the beverage industry in the Dow Jones sustainability index after receiving a sore of 90 — 40 points higher than the industry average.
In late September Coca-Cola called on creatives to help clean up Britain’s streets and encourage people to recycle more.
As part of The Drum’s Do It Day event, creatives were invited to pitch sustainable ideas to the world’s largest brands. The ideas would then be turned into reality at Do it Day.
Liz Lowe, corporate responsibility and sustainability manager at Coca-Cola Great Britain said in regards to litter: “Everyone hates it, it is an absolute blight on the landscape and everyone agrees with that. We want to do our bit to be part getting government, civil society, offices, cities, ordinary people to try and tackle it because I don’t think it’s any one part of society’s issue alone, I think it’s everybody’s issue.”
